2 hours
Image copyrightReuters
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The FBI is examining the remains of the first balloon down.
The White House said there was no evidence linking the three aircraft shot down by the US military over the weekend to alleged Chinese espionage.
The objects “could be tied to commercial or research facilities and therefore harmless,” spokesman John Kirby said.
US and Canadian officials have yet to locate or recover the remains of the three downed objects.
The government in Beijing accused the United States of having done so “a trigger-happy overreaction”.
China has denied that one of its balloons, destroyed by a US fighter jet off South Carolina earlier this month, was used for espionage.
Instead, he claimed it was a weather surveillance plane that went off course.
Image copyrightGetty Images
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White House spokesman John Kirby said the objects “may be associated with commercial or research facilities.”
At Tuesday’s news conference, Kirby said it was difficult to determine the purpose or provenance of the other three objects until the remains were found and analyzed.
“We have seen no evidence or anything to suggest that these three objects were part of the People’s Republic of China’s espionage program. [RPC] or engaged in outside intelligence efforts,” the White House National Security Council told reporters.
Until now, no company, organization or government has claimed the objects.
Image copyrightUS Navy
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Navy divers helped retrieve the balloon from the Atlantic
missile attacks
In the most recent outrage – over Lake Huron – the first Sidewinder missile fired by a US F-16 fighter jet missed its target, the top US general confirmed.
“The first shot missed. The second shot hit the target,” said Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, during a visit to Brussels on Tuesday.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that the airspace is clear and the background is clear up to the maximum effective range of the missile. And in that case the missiles land or the missile landed harmlessly in the waters of Lake Huron.” .
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, for his part, criticized the US reaction.
“Many in the US have been wondering, ‘What good can such an expensive measure do for the US and its taxpayers?Wang Wenbin explained on Tuesday.
Image copyrightUS Navy
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Parts of Chinese spy balloon recovered and now under investigation.
Investigation
Sensors from the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over the United States on February 4 were recovered from the Atlantic on Monday and are being analyzed by the FBI.
Search teams found “significant remains of the site, including identified priority sensors and electronic parts,” off the coast of South Carolina,” the US Northern Command said.
The entire US Senate received a secret briefing on the matter from military chiefs on Tuesday.
That’s what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said The Chamber would launch an investigation into why this is so airborne objects.
“That’s a good question,” Schumer told reporters. “We have to answer that.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Romania sent fighter jets to investigate the incursion of an airborne object into European airspace.
However, the country’s defense ministry claimed the pilots could not find it and aborted the mission after half an hour.
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