Spy Balloon Flying Over Montana's Nuclear Missile Silos is for Weather, China Claims

The US government has been forced to restrict airspace and close airports as a massive Chinese "spy balloon" has been circling the northern United States, hovering over Montana nuclear missile silos, for the past few days. Television stations' footage appears to show the balloon carrying a sizable structure.

Spy Balloon? or Weather Balloon?

US defense officials stated that they thought the balloon, which had been spotted recently above sensitive areas, was actually a high-altitude surveillance device.

However, China's foreign ministry claimed in a statement that it was primarily used for meteorological purposes.

According to officials, the object flew over the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, through Canada, and then appeared over the Montana city of Billings on Wednesday.

High-altitude balloons called weather balloons are used to carry scientific payloads into the upper atmosphere. They are capable of lifting payloads up to 40,000 m, or 130,000 feet. According to High Altitude Science, every day at 00:00 and again at 12:00 GMT, about 800 meteorological weather balloons are launched at various locations around the world.

Weather balloons are listed according to their weight in grams rather than their actual size, and depending on their weight and the latex's elasticity, they can be inflated to a variety of diameters.

According to reports, the balloon is roughly the size of three buses.

Flying Over Nuclear Missile Silos

Senior US military officials considered trying to shoot down the spy balloon when it hovered over Montana but ultimately advised against it due to the potential risk of injury from flying debris. One of the three US nuclear missile silo fields, Malmstrom Air Force Base, is located in Montana. There are 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos in Malmstrom.

However, the government had fighter jets ready in case it had to shoot the object down.

According to the Chinese statement, unforeseen winds caused the balloon to deviate from its intended path. According to the statement, because of the westerlies and its limited ability to steer itself, the airship veered off the path it had intended to take.

The Chinese side regrets that the airship accidentally entered US airspace as a result of a force majeure.

The incident was described as an "unexpected situation" in the statement, which also stated that Beijing would keep in touch with the US side.

The Unfamiliar Big Balloon

As a result of the incident, Canada said on Friday that it had summoned the ambassador of China and would continue to strenuously express its stance to Chinese officials.

Information about the balloon's launch location or current location during a briefing on Thursday at the Pentagon was not dislosed. They added that the balloon appeared to remain in place for a greater amount of time than other balloons the US had been keeping tabs on over the previous few years.

Confusion was caused by the strange sight as the balloon floated over Montana, and some people shared photos of the pale, round object high above the Earth's surface.

Chase Doak, a Billings office worker, told the AP news agency that he noticed the large white circle drifting in the sky and went home to get his better camera after seeing it. Doak wanted to ensure that he was able to document it and take as many photos as he could because he believed it might be a real UFO.

Conjectures and Hype

In the beginning, China cautioned against pushing conjecture and hyping the situation while it investigated the reports of the balloon, with the state-run Global Times accusing the US of escalating tensions between the two nations.

The incident is likely to raise tensions before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to China next week, despite China's explanation.

According to BBC News, the top US diplomat will arrive in Beijing for talks on a variety of topics, including security, Taiwan, and Covid-19.

Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, the press secretary for the Pentagon, made a brief statement regarding the situation and stated that the government was still monitoring the balloon. According to Ryder's statement, the balloon is currently flying well above the height of commercial air traffic and therefore does not pose a threat to the safety of those on the ground, either physically or militarily, The WeatherBoy reports.