Chinese spy balloon carried ‘multiple antennas’ for collecting signals intelligence, State Dept. says
… photos taken by high-altitude U-2 planes confirmed the presence of the equipment, including “multiple antennas … likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications” and “solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors.”
So, it was listening to us. Interesting to ponder just what it was listening *for.* Being a balloon, it would have had only minimal ability to target a specific site; it would have been able to scan a swathe of the country. Was it listening to cell phones? Was it listening for military-type transmissions and where they came from (looking for hidden bases/missiles/whatever)? Is the US going to start taking air defense seriously?
2 responses to “Not so much a “weather balloon””
All this fuss over a Chinese paper lantern that got loose. Tsk, tsk.
the intelligence gathering ability went out the window the moment we knew it was there. anything transmitting that we didn’t want it to hear was shut off.
of course we could also have spoofed it. set up a van to sit somewhere and transmit something fake, but interesting enough that the SIGINT people in china think they’ve found something.