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> The dispute was over its intention, which China maintains was meteorological research. I seem to recall the US military were able to recover it after shootin
by squarefoot 3y ago
> The dispute was over its intention, which China maintains was meteorological research.
I seem to recall the US military were able to recover it after shooting it down. If that's the case, analysis of the remains should dispel any doubt about its purpose: sensors used in meteorological research are quite different from those used say for monitoring radio waves or taking photos of terrain.
- jcrawfordor 3y agoYes, and there has been pretty extensive reporting that based on analysis of the wreckage the balloon was determined to be an ELINT (electronic intelligence) collection platform with a real-time C2 connection using a commercial US ISP (I assume a cellular carrier). I think that's pretty much what anyone with some general knowledge of modern military intelligence would have guessed, it's just the obvious thing to use such a balloon for. However, to my knowledge, this is all based on "sources within the intelligence community" and has not been formally acknowledged by any government official. So take it with a grain of salt, even on top of what you might usually apply to determinations by US intelligence.