The United States is tracking a small high-altitude balloon that is drifting across the country, which poses no threat to national security, CBS News informed.
CBS News first reported that the military was monitoring the balloon, which drifted across the western US earlier in the day. NORAD, the military command responsible for air defence over the US and Canada, later confirmed it had detected the object and said it was hovering between 43,000 and 45,000 feet.
“The balloon was intercepted by NORAD fighters over Utah, who determined it was not maneuverable and did not present a threat to national security. NORAD will continue to track and monitor the balloon,” NORAD said in a statement, noting that “the balloon posed no hazard to flight safety.”
The balloon is expected to be over Georgia by Friday evening. It is made of mylar and a small cube-shaped box about two feet long on each side was hanging below it. Its origin and purpose remain unknown, according to officials.
The events come a year after a Chinese balloon carrying sophisticated spy equipment flew over the continental US for several days. At the time, China said the balloon was intended to collect meteorological data and denied the allegations.
The spy balloon served as a disturbance to President Biden as Republicans questioned why it was necessary to allow it to fly over the US for almost a week before ordering it shot down. The Pentagon further concluded that the balloon was not transmitting information to China, but its presence nonetheless put the US military on high alert for other objects in US airspace.
Biden said the unidentified objects were not believed to be linked to China’s spy balloon programme: “The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were mostly balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research,” the president said.
The Chinese spy balloon has become a major diplomatic point of contention between the US and China, forcing Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing in February 2023. Blinken ended up travelling in June to try to ease growing tensions over a number of issues, including the balloon and Chinese military activity in the South China Sea.
