Congress digesting particulars on Chinese language balloon
The Chinese language balloon that lofted throughout America final week was some 200 toes tall and carried at its base a set of kit the dimensions of a regional industrial jet that weighed “a few thousand kilos” and would have posed a danger to residents if it had been downed over land, VanHerck mentioned. It may need additionally contained self-destructive explosives, he famous.
Because the balloon overflew America, the U.S. army was capable of protect its belongings from the balloon’s spying equipment, VanHerck mentioned, with out elaborating as to how.
In the meantime, U.S. army and intelligence businesses had been capable of collect details about the Chinese language balloon, together with its “transmission capabilities,” the final mentioned.
On Sunday, the waters off South Carolina the place the remnants of the balloon’s cargo had fallen the day before today had been nonetheless too tough to attempt to gather particles, VanHerck mentioned.
However on Monday morning, ships with the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, joined by personnel from different businesses, together with FBI counterintelligence brokers, had been capable of start amassing the particles in an space of water the final described as “15 soccer fields by 15 soccer fields.” The ships had a number of unmanned underwater vessels, he mentioned.
