Suspected Chinese spy balloon discovered flying over the United States. Why hasn't it been destroyed?

 

A photograph of the the balloon. ABC News.

A massive spy balloon, suspected to be Chinese, has been discovered flying over the United States. ABC News. The balloon is very large, the size of three school buses and has a large technology array. The Defense Department is confident that balloon is from China. The balloon was over military installations in China. The purpose of the balloon is unknown, as Chinese military satellites would be as effective, without the risk of provoking the United States. Joe Biden has refused to shoot down the balloon citing danger to civilians.

Video of the Chinese spy balloon as it flew over Montana pic.twitter.com/em6PHJzLzS

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) February 2, 2023

My Comment:

The only thing more bizarre than the Chinese sending a balloon over the United States is the fact that Joe Biden won't shoot it down. This whole story is strange and it almost defies explanation.

This is a major provocation by the Chinese. Sending over a balloon like this isn't quite an act of war but it's absolutely not something that should be done. The real question is why. China has spy satellites so on the surface it makes very little sense to use a balloon. 

Of course, there is an easy answer for this. In a major war against the United States, China might lose their surveillance satellites due to anti-satellite missiles. Having balloon observatories are a good way to counter this problem, though they would have their own downsides. 

I don't buy the articles claims that this was some kind of scientific experiment that went wrong. It's not impossible, mistakes happen all the time. But that makes a lot less sense than this being a deliberate action. If it was such a mistake, why wouldn't China inform the Pentagon what was happening? 

What is shocking to me is that this balloon wasn't shot down. Is it even possible to do so? I haven't heard how high this balloon is other than it is higher then commercial flight at 42,000 feet. Most of our jets can get quite a bit higher then that so I doubt that they can't actually shoot it down. Plus, our air defenses should be able to reach the balloon. 

The question is why we aren't doing so. I don't really understand why the balloon would pose a danger to civilians on the ground. Montana is a fairly sparse state and it would be easy to time the attack to minimize any collateral damage. Sure, the balloon is absolutely massive but taking it out should not be a problem. 

I guess it's possible that there is something the Pentagon knows that makes this balloon a lot more dangerous than we currently know. The only thing I could think of is that it has some radioactive material on board, but I can't imagine what purpose it would serve. 

You would also think that recovering this balloon would be a high priority. This technology appears pretty new and recovering it would be a good thing. We could use similar technology to spy on other countries, but I guess that's not a priority. 

I think the Chinese discovered something a lot more valuable than any imaging this balloon gathered. They have discovered that America is so weak that they won't even shoot down a spy balloon that violates their airspace. That's not a good thing at all, but if for no other reason this was a success for them.