On 16 December 1784 – barely a year after the first crewed flight – a British cartoonist published a sketch entitled The Battle of the Balloons, depicting airships belonging to the leading powers of the day firing cannons at each other from among the clouds. In his book Falling Upwards, Richard Holmes adduces the drawing as evidence of the intimate relationship between balloons and military competition, with, for instance, the first French company of aeronauts formed on the remarkably early date of 29 March 1794. Today we might contemplate another…
Tag: US military
Tuesday briefing: Why is the US suddenly spying so many UFOs?
Good morning. UFOs are being shot down over North America, and one of them is octagonal. OK, that’s a slightly breathless account of events since a Chinese balloon was sighted over Montana 10 days ago, and aliens probably aren’t involved – but the full story is almost as interesting. After that first balloon was brought down and US secretary of state Anthony Blinken postponed a trip to Beijing in response, three other mysterious objects have been taken out in US and Canadian airspace in the last few days – the…
China has been spying on US and allies via balloon for years, White House says
China has been operating a high-altitude balloon program spying on the US and its allies for many years, the White House said on Monday as it answered questions about a series of mysterious objects shot down by the US military over an eight-day period in North American airspace. The surveillance program, according to John Kirby, the US national security council spokesperson, dated back to at least the administration of Donald Trump, which he said was oblivious to it. “It was operating during the previous administration, but they did not detect…
US shoots down ‘octagonal’ flying object near military sites in Michigan
The US military has shot down a third flying object over North American airspace in three days, as the air force general overseeing the airspace said he would not rule out any explanation for the objects yet. The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday. It is understood to have been the same item that was picked up by radar over Montana on Saturday. At the point it was struck by an air-to-air missile…
Ongoing detention of accused former US marine an ‘affront to Australia’s rule of law’, wife says
The wife of detained Australian citizen and former US Marines fighter pilot Daniel Duggan has described his ongoing incarceration – now at 115 days – as “inhumane” and an “affront to Australia’s rule of law”. Saffrine Duggan will petition the United Nations human rights committee to intervene in her husband’s detention. He is confined to a 2x4m cell in Sydney’s Silverwater prison and classified as an “extreme high-risk restricted inmate” without justification, she says. The US is seeking Duggan’s extradition on charges of arms trafficking and money laundering more than…
Schumer says Chinese ‘humiliated’ after three flying objects shot down
US and Canadian military are continuing to search by sea and land amid hostile weather conditions in a scramble to recover portions of three flying objects shot down over North American airspace in the past week. The Democratic majority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that officials were now convinced that all three of the flying objects brought down by air-to-air missiles this week were balloons. He put the finger of blame firmly on China. “The Chinese were humiliated – I think the…
Chinese spy balloon seen above Hawaii and Florida in 2019, report says
A Chinese spy balloon “drifted past Hawaii and across Florida” as it “circumnavigated the globe” in 2019, four years before the American military shot down another one this past weekend, according to a US air force intelligence report reviewed by CNN. China “launched and controlled” the high-altitude balloon, which was “capable of operating at “65,000 ft – 328,000 ft and for months at a time”, in 2019, according to the report seen by CNN. The report did not make clear when the US became aware of the 2019 balloon. News…
White House rejects Republican fire over wait to down Chinese spy balloon
The US transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, on Sunday rejected Republican criticism of Joe Biden over an eight-day wait to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon which flew over US military sites. “The president gave instructions to have it shot down in a way that was safe,” Buttigieg told CNN’s State of the Union, of the operation off the Carolina coast on Saturday. “The debris field that was created by this balloon which was shot down, it’s about seven miles long. And so any time the military is considering an…
The moment a suspected Chinese spy balloon is shot down over east coast of US – video
Footage shows a suspected Chinese spy balloon being shot down over the Carolina coast. Two US fighter jets circled the balloon before launching an air missile to destroy it. Beijing claimed it was a weather observation airship that had been blown off course, but the Pentagon claimed it had been able to manoeuvre and make deliberate turns. The US said it reached Montana, home to some of the US arsenal of nuclear ballistic missiles. Some Republicans called for the balloon to be shot down over land, despite the risk of…
US general’s ‘gut’ feeling of war with China sparks alarm over predictions
A leaked memo from a US four-star general saying his “gut” told him the US would be at war with China in 2025 has prompted warnings about the danger of “undisciplined” predictions of a Taiwan strait conflict. The memo, by the head of the US Air Mobility Command (AMC), Gen Mike Minihan, was the latest prediction of a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan, which have ranged from 2022 to 2049. It has triggered a debate about US readiness, accusations of warmongering, and concerns about desensitising people to the real risk…