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DLnews Staff:

ANTENNAS, SENSORS, SOLAR PANELS CHINA BALLOON WAS FLYING EAVESDROPPING CENTER

The 14-story-high helium balloon that crossed the U.S. the previous week and was shot down by an F-22 fighter jet off the Atlantic coast on Saturday was equipped with antennas for eavesdropping on telecommunications networks, as well as other surveillance equipment, according to representatives of the Pentagon, State Department, and FBI.

Thus, for a while, practically a huge eavesdropping device with significant eavesdropping capabilities and other high-tech equipment for aerial reconnaissance was hovering more than 18,000 meters above American soil.

Mounted were large-scale solar panels that provided power to control and operate equipment and sensors. The kit made it possible to "collect and locate communications," a State Department spokesman said.

U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance aircraft had documented the devices and antennas photographically during several flybys. Yet, the government of U.S. President Joe Biden (80) wants to act so with hard evidence against Beijing's squishy excuses: Because none of the equipment on the balloon corroborates Chinese assertions that the jet stream mistakenly blew a "weather balloon" into U.S. airspace.

A U.S. official: "The equipment on the balloon was clearly for intelligence surveillance and is not at all consistent with equipment aboard weather balloons."

At the same time, the "State Department"  made official the findings that Chinese balloons have flown over 40 countries on five continents as part of global spying operations. He said the People's Liberation Army runs the international surveillance program.

An inquiry as to whether other countries was also a target of such surveillance flights was not confirmed. Only this much: government representatives of the affected nation had been informed through diplomatic channels.

Hard to believe: A Chinese company, which is considered the manufacturer of the helium giants and maintains close relations with the People's Liberation Army, praises the capacities of the balloons on its website. And this is partly with videos, which originate from earlier missions over the USA and other countries.

But the U.S. also appears embarrassed: Because new details of the chronology of the balloon drama show the enormous lapse in the security of its airspace!

• Military intelligence had already discovered the balloon on January 28, when it crossed the Aleutian Islands and then other parts of the state of Alaska.
• But analysts did not classify the balloon as a particular threat. As a result, a report of it did not reach top people at the Pentagon or the White House.
• On February 1, the balloon - after flying over Canada - appeared high above the "Missile Fields" in Montana, where nuclear missiles are stored in 150 silos. However, it was not until a day later that the Pentagon confirmed the balloon's entry into U.S. airspace. By then, videos shot by citizens were already circulating on social networks.
• The hat had long been on fire in Washington because of the underestimated threat and among the caught C.P. leadership in Beijing. It became known that the balloon's data transmission was stopped at that time. The launch occurred on February 4 over the sea off Myrtle Beach (South Carolina).

Navy divers are continuing to recover the remains. Recover wreckage is expected to be pieced together for a closer look at the spy balloon's capabilities. According to the New York Times, the FBI would already be tasked with this. The key question: exactly what data did the balloon collect?

The FBI is examining the collected balloon parts.

Meanwhile, the Chinese ambassador in Paris, Lu Shaye, had demanded that the wreckage be returned to China.