The head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) claimed on Monday that Chinese balloons that entered US airspace during the Trump administration weren’t detected by the command, which is responsible for airspace protection of Canada and the continental United States.
“As NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America,” said Gen. Glen VanHerck, who also heads US Northern Command (NORTHCOM). “I will tell you that we did not detect those threats. And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out.”
During a briefing over the weekend, Pentagon officials said similar balloons entered US airspace three times during the Trump administration, a claim that was strongly denied by President Trump and his former top officials. But VanHerck and other US military officials insist it did happen and that the balloon activity was only “discovered” after Trump left office.
The US on Saturday shot down the alleged surveillance balloon, which Beijing insists is a weather balloon that only had a civilian purpose. The US is currently working to recover the balloon debris off the coast of South Carolina.
Chinese officials said they kept close communication with the US over the incident, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken still canceled his trip to China because of the balloon.
The balloon is not the first time surveillance aircraft or alleged surveillance aircraft sparked a diplomatic crisis between the US and China. On April 1, 2001, a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet off the coast of Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The American pilot had to land in Chinese territory, and the Chinese pilot went missing and is presumed dead.
Well, isn’t this a fishy statement? If they went “undetected” before, how the hell do we know about it now? Have they invented a time machine already?….
Not fishy. Just the kind of information you cannot process.
There could’ve been many reasons for that, if the media is not giving you all the details, that’s a different story and not reason for being suspicious yet. Give it sometime, you may learn something new.
Definitely fishy. The NORAD commander’s statement sounds like kinder, gentler “struggle session” self-criticism from China’s Cultural Revolution.
You need to understand airspace and airspace coverage as well as US Agency reporting chains on sightings like this.
But that’s ok. Red Douglas has spoken so it is fishy. He is right and his words are Gospel.
If I need to understand those things, it appears from other posts in these threads that others need the same understanding. Why don’t you explain for us, Don?
Because I don’t have the time to write and provide supporting documentation. I have a full time job that is not Blogging.
Plus my point is that this entire thing is not fishy. The reason why I believe is not fishy is because I know there is always a lot more than we don’t know. And in this particular issue, when it comes to airspace, no one has 100% coverage. Not here on earth and not in space. The FAA, NORAD and other Agencies make mistakes daily.
“The reason why I believe is not fishy is because I know there is always a lot more than we don’t know.”
Thanks for the laugh 😉
And don’t forget: the Earth is flat, so the Chinese balloon had to be launched on our side.
Just call it fishy all you want.
Call the entire US fishy as well, I’m sure it’ll make you sleep at night better.
At least he would have been on his bed, not under it, fearing a death ray from a weather balloon blown way off course.
I’m sure if that ballon landed in your backyard, you wouldn’t know about it either. Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t make the Captain obvious go away.
Yes, and It could’ve been worse too, I could be named Analyzer.
I wondered about that myself, and here’s the best plausible explanation I could come up with:
1) Chinese balloon sighted.
2) Official at e.g. NRO to flunkies: “Pull all the satellite coverage from January of 2017 to January 2021 and flag anything that looks like it might be a balloon.”
Maybe one of those “flying saucers” they have belately attributed to a previous balloon invasion.
LOL i think that is sort of reverse psychology =
when it is a real flying saucer i will claim it is a weather balloon. but here comes a real weather balloon so i will claim it is a flying saucer
NORAD Commander: Chinese Balloons That Entered US Under Trump Went ‘Undetected’
right. that’s how they knew that there were 3 of them, because they were undetected
The balloon was an excuse for Blinken to cancel, because he had never been invited in the first place. China told him if he wanted to come he was welcome after the SD announced the trip.
I have yet to see evidence that demonstrates the balloon spotted this week was not a weather balloon. Given the crazy swings in temperature and rainfall across the globe over the last year, it might not be a bad idea to collect new data. The future of agriculture in several countries, including China, might benefit from that information.
I am launching my own colorful balloons that I got for my birthday to upper atmosphere and hoping a US air force F-35 jet shoots them down…!
Clearly, whoever is in charge of NORAD needs to be strung up by his Buster Browns for allowing unauthorized foreign penetration of our airspace. I don’t care if the Chinese just wanted high-res down blouse photos of women at the Grammys, they shouldn’t have been over our heads AT ALL.
Please. Whatever that balloon was, it was no threat. Anyway, spying is what nation states do and none do it as comprehensively as the US.
This freakout over a balloon is silly and childish and is making the US look ridiculous to much of the world. Of course, that may not be a bad thing for the world.
Therefore we push for an anti-satellite treaty wherein all “over your heads” probes circling the earth and above SOVEREIGN territory of nations, are taken down.
Taking down the moon would be pretty difficult. And damaging.
The moon isn’t a probe.