After a fighter jet shot down a balloon suspected of being a Chinese spy tool, the United States military has recovered the debris. The contents are so surprising.
"The crew has been able to retrieve significant remains from the (Chinese spy balloon) crash site, including all critical sensor and electronics pieces and major portions of its structure," said a statement from the US military's Northern Command.
In another statement, photos taken by a high-altitude U-2 aircraft confirmed the presence of equipment aboard the Chinese spy balloon, including several antennas possibly capable of collecting data and locating intelligence.
Then there are solar panels large enough to generate the power needed to operate multiple active intelligence gathering sensors. The equipment is not consistent with what is contained in weather balloons as China claims.
For your information, a Chinese spy balloon flew over Charlotte NC, United States of America on February 04, 2023. The Pentagon announced earlier that they were tracking a Chinese reconnaissance balloon that was suspected of being a spy device. This balloon was later shot down in an area off the coast of South Carolina.
US intelligence officials believe the Chinese spy balloons were part of a massive surveillance program being run by the Chinese military, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
"This balloon is intentionally designed for reconnaissance operations normally directed by the military," said a US spokesperson.
The Chinese insist the balloon was simply weather monitoring and strayed off course, while the US appears to believe its purpose was reconnaissance.
The Pentagon Media Team said the US had collected various information about China's spy balloons, so that in the future it could detect if a similar attempt was made.
On the other hand, in a government laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, an elite FBI team will examine the recovered remains of the balloon, trying to learn everything possible about the intelligence and figure out the best way to track such reconnaissance balloons in the future.