- Electronic signals could be collected from base comms or weapons systems
- China has maintained the balloon was a civilian airship that strayed off course
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The Chinese 'spy balloon' that flew across the US in February gathered intelligence from several American military sites before it was shot down, according to two senior US officials and a former senior administration official.
The sources said China could have gathered more intelligence if not for the Biden administration's efforts to block it.
The balloon entered US airspace on 28 January and was shot down on 4 February after passing over US nuclear missile sites, including the Malmstrom Air Base in Montana.
The intel collected was mostly from electronic signals, rather than images, the officials told NBC.
China previously claimed that the balloon was a civilian weather balloon that strayed off course. The foreign ministry condemned its shooting down as an 'overreaction'.
Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit 4 prepare material recovered off the coast of Myrtle Beach in the Atlantic Ocean from the shooting down of a Chinese high-altitude balloon, for transport to the FBI, at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach on Feb. 10, 2023
China was reportedly able to control the balloon as it passed over the same site in figures of eights.
This allowed it to transmit information in real time, the officials warned.
Information collected from electronic signals can be picked up from weapons systems or communications between personnel on the base.
The balloon, which Beijing previously denied was a government spy vessel, launched from southern China in late January.
It then drifted east and entered US airspace over Alaska on 28 January and was tracked as it flew over Malmstrom Air Force base in Montana, where nuclear assets are stored.
The President was briefed two days later and elected to shoot it down over the Atlantic on 4 February, a whole week after it entered the US.
Biden had reportedly called for the balloon to be shot down 'ASAP' on 8 February, but was advised to wait by the US military.
It was able to cross the continent before it was shot down over the ocean for safety.
American jets monitored the object as it passed over the country.
On 4 February, the Air Force sent an F-22 fighter jet armed with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile to take the balloon down over water.
Sailors were later assigned to recover the balloon from the Atlantic Ocean and are still analyzing it.
The balloon was found to have a self-destruct mechanism that could have been activated remotely from China.
The Biden administration at the time downplayed the seriousness of the spy balloon.
The President told Telemundo on 9 February: 'It’s not a major breach. Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that’s going on by every country around the world is overwhelming.'
He did say that the flight of the balloon was a 'violation of international law'.
The path of the intelligence collecting balloons which flew over the United States in February
The government said at the time it hesitated to shoot down the balloon until it was over the ocean to avoid casualties or damage on the ground.
The solar-powered balloon was 200ft tall, filled with helium and weighing thousands of pounds, and the Pentagon warned it was too risky to shoot down over land.
The balloon was flying at 60,000ft - about twice the height of normal civilian air traffic.
US officials acknowledged they had been tracking the spy balloon since it took off from Hainan Island in the south of China.
They previously said the balloon was capable of collecting signals intelligence.
Speaking about the advantages of using a balloon for spying reasons rather than more sophisticated technology, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charlie 'Tuna' Moore said: 'If you have a balloon that's moving extremely slowly you have persistence that you can't get from a satellite.'
It was capable of flying up to 120,000ft - nearly twice what a fighter jet can fly at (closer to 65,000ft) and three times the maximum altitude of a commercial airliner.
Flying within range for the F-22, it was quickly brought down by a sidewinder missile travelling at up to 1,900mph.
After the balloon was shot down, a 'UFO' was shot down on 10 February over Alaska.
Another was shot down a day later over Yukon, Canada, and on 12 February, a third was shot down over the Great Lakes.
The Pentagon refused to release footage of the UFOs, which were also shot down by F-16s and F-22s with sidewinder missiles.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon told DailyMail.com there were no plans to release images of video footage of the downed objects, leading some to speculate that the UFOs were hobby craft or other civilian bodies.
The military was quick to release images of the Chinese balloon, and more recently published a video of a Russian jet colliding with a US drone on 14 March.
An F-22 Raptor fighter jet fired a single AIM-9X missile to take down a Chinese spy balloon and its payload, which was equipped with cameras, sensors and radars
After the downing of the balloon, China said that accusations of espionage were 'part of the US side's information warfare against China.'
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning echoed claims the balloon was a civilian metrological airship blown off course.
China meanwhile accused the US of 'endangering' peace last month when an American reconnaissance plane flew through the Taiwan Strait.
The legal status of the strategically-important body of water is contested, with the US claiming it is in international waters and China claiming it falls within its own waters, as it considers Taiwan an extension of the mainland.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11933069/Chinese-spy-balloon-DID-gather-intelligence-sensitive-military-sites-shot-down.html
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