{"id":230012,"date":"2023-02-27T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=230012"},"modified":"2023-02-21T04:10:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T04:10:11","slug":"us-admits-chinese-balloon-was-off-course-it-shot-down-a-12-balloon-in-2m-missile-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/02\/us-admits-chinese-balloon-was-off-course-it-shot-down-a-12-balloon-in-2m-missile-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"US Admits Chinese Balloon Was off Course–It Shot down a $12 Balloon in $2M Missile Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

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US officials acknowledged the Chinese balloon they shot down on 4 Feb had likely been blown off course by unexpected weather. The US Air Force later spent $2 million using missiles to blow up what appeared to be a $12 hobbyist balloon.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

19 Feb 2023 – <\/em>A Chinese balloon that the US military shot down had likely been pushed off course by unexpected weather conditions, according to multiple officials in Washington.<\/p>\n

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This is according to numerous reports in major US media outlets, including the Washington Post<\/a> and CNN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In response to hysteria surrounding the Chinese rubber object, the US Air Force subsequently spent roughly $2 million to destroy what appears to have been a hobby group\u2019s $12 balloon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mL9Jz-Qruho<\/p>\n

On February 1, a large Chinese balloon was first seen over the US state Montana.<\/p>\n

On February 4, US military fighter jets shot down the rubber object, off the coast of South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Washington accused Beijing of using the balloon to spy on US territory.<\/p>\n

China adamantly denied that the rubber object was a surveillance device, instead maintaining that it was used for weather research.<\/p>\n

There are legitimate reasons to take Beijing at its word. The Washington Post had acknowledged on February 3, \u201cExperts in national security and aerospace said the craft appears to share characteristics with high-altitude balloons used by developed countries around the world for weather forecasting<\/a>, telecommunications and scientific research\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The Pentagon itself said that \u201cthe payload wouldn\u2019t offer much in the way of surveillance that China couldn\u2019t collect through spy satellites\u201d and that \u201cthe balloon posed no serious physical or intelligence threat\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 4, 2023<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The newspaper quoted an anonymous US \u201csenior defense official\u201d who \u201csaid the payload wouldn\u2019t offer much in the way of surveillance that China couldn\u2019t collect through spy satellites\u201d, stating, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t characterize it as revolutionary\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even the bellicose right-wing think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) \u2013 which is funded by the US government and weapons industry and is notorious for its anti-China bias \u2013 called for caution early on, conceding in a February 3 article: \u201cChina has not used balloons for spying before, and using a balloon would be a step back. The most likely explanation is that this is an errant weather balloon that went astray<\/a>\u2014lost weather balloons are the basis of many \u2018UFO sightings’\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The neoconservative, US government-funded think tank CSIS is very anti-China, but even it admits:<\/p>\n

"China has not used balloons for spying before… The most likely explanation is that this is an errant weather balloon that went astray"https:\/\/t.co\/WN2Wzil3Zs<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dG99WtDM9y<\/a><\/p>\n

— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) February 6, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n