Chinese balloon that US shot down was 'crammed' with American hardware

It's been months since "spy balloon" fever gripped nan United States, but nan headline-grabbing flying entity – alleged to person been deployed by China – is backmost successful nan news. Preliminary findings from nan US inspection of its wreckage show a full bunch of commercially disposable hardware made successful nan States.

That successful and of itself isn't caller info – US officials were briefed successful February, soon aft nan balloon, changeable down disconnected nan eastbound seashore of nan US, was recovered, and were told it contained western-made parts pinch English penning connected them.

What is caller is nan grade to which nan balloon was driven by US hardware, which unnamed sources told nan Wall Street Journal was "crammed" pinch off-the-shelf components that could person easy been purchased online.

In summation to US-made hardware, nan balloon's gondola was besides reportedly equipped pinch specialized Chinese-made sensors arsenic good arsenic instrumentality tin of collecting photos, videos, radar information and different info for transmission to China. If true, that intends China's claims nan balloon was an off-course upwind monitoring instrumentality are, arsenic galore assumed, a fabrication.

In February, US officials added six Chinese companies to its trade-restricting Entity List complete their activity pinch nan Chinese authorities to create high-altitude balloons for illustration nan 1 successful question. It's not clear if those companies had supplied components for this peculiar balloon.

But while nan balloon now appears to person been a spy device, officials said it doesn't look to person transmitted immoderate information backmost to China, truthful immoderate US secrets it managed to scrape are apt still secret.

Of course, this is each based connected what unnamed US officials told nan WSJ: nan expected preliminary study hasn't been released publically and whitethorn ne'er be. We reached retired to respective sources, including nan White House, FBI and Office of nan Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), but nary of them responded to our questions.

The balloonatic fringe wants answers

The US went a spot balloon crazy successful February aft destroying nan Chinese balloon. Shortly afterward, nan US spent a play shooting down 3 further objects which whitethorn aliases whitethorn not person simply been flying garbage near complete from erstwhile projects aliases high-altitude/low-orbit subject experiments.

If you deliberation we've calmed down since past – well, astir of america have, but not Republicans. The blimpish helping of American authorities has railed against President Biden's handling of nan balloon matter since it first began. Initial criticisms centered connected nan administration's determination not to sprout nan balloon down while it was complete onshore for fearfulness of nan harm it could cause. Subsequent criticisms person shifted toward not appropriately handling nan aftermath.

Most recently, 19 Republican senators sent a missive to Biden, nan FBI, and ODNI, urging them to publically merchandise nan study connected nan balloon, which they said would show that nan US is superior astir holding China to account.

"It's clip that your management afloat exposes Beijing's efforts to cod intelligence against nan United States and nan threats posed by specified activities," nan senators wrote. "Beijing continues to trial US resoluteness and tarnish US credibility – we must respond pinch strength, aliases consequence further aggression from America's adversaries."

• China's spy balloon barrage earns six of its companies a spot connected US entity list
• US subject spends play shooting down Useless Floating Objects
• Fire-resistant drones committedness to thief rescuers successful a basking spot
• China's cyber now aimed astatine infrastructure, warns CISA boss

Whether nan study will ever beryllium made nationalist is unanswered astatine this point. In April, China refused to meet pinch US Secretary of State Antony Blinken complete fears nan FBI would make its findings public, further delaying a long-planned travel that was first postponed complete nan first balloon incident.

Blinken yet went connected his travel to China earlier this month, and aft spending 2 days speaking to Chinese officials, including president Xi Jinping, he said successful an question and reply that nan balloon section successful Sino-American relations is over.

"We said what we needed to opportunity and made clear what we needed to make clear successful position of this not happening again, and truthful agelong arsenic it doesn't, that section should beryllium closed," Blinken told CBS. What that intends for publication of nan study is uncertain – we asked those questions of US officials arsenic well, and will update this communicative if we perceive back. ®