Military analysts revealed a stunning twist about the contents of the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off South Carolina last year.
According to reports, the balloon was filled with American-made military technology, raising new concerns about Beijing’s ability to exploit U.S. commercial products for their own espionage.
The balloon, described as “big as three buses,” carried satellite communication modules and sophisticated sensors from at least five U.S. companies, according to two military sources familiar with the classified investigation.
“Clearly, the intent of this balloon is for surveillance,” a U.S. official said when it was first detected.
The craft flew over sensitive U.S. military sites including Montana’s Malmstrom Air Force Base, home to 150 nuclear missile silos, before finally being shot down by an F-22 using an AIM-9X missile on February 4, 2023.
Investigators also uncovered a Chinese system that shows how Beijing stole American satellite technology to control surveillance balloons and collect sensitive data. The necessary equipment was readily available for online purchase.
China’s foreign ministry protested the shootdown, claiming the craft was civilian.
“The airship is for civilian use and entered the US due to force majeure – it was completely an accident,” the ministry said in a statement.
Then-President Joe Biden tried to downplay the incident’s significance at the time.
“I don’t think the leadership knew where it was and knew what was in it and knew what was going on,” Biden said last June. “More embarrassing than it was intentional.”
The balloon operated at 60,000 feet, well above commercial aircraft that typically fly at 40,000 feet but below the 80,000-120,000 foot range of most surveillance balloons. The Pentagon admitted in June that it had “intelligence collection capabilities.”
The incident strained U.S.-China relations and caused a firestorm of criticism on the Biden admin’s weak response. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned Beijing visit in response.
By November, Biden still met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco, where Xi acknowledged that “the China-US relationship has never been smooth sailing.”