The information collected is probably electronic information about weapons systems and personnel at the bases, writes the channel. China has claimed the balloon was a weather balloon, and believes the US overreacted when it shot it down in February. According to the officials, the balloon could transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real time. Was shot down The US Defense Department referred to earlier comments from February in which senior officials said the balloon had “limited added value”. China has repeatedly said the balloon, said to have been the size of three school buses, was an unmanned civilian airship that accidentally veered off course. It first entered US airspace over Alaska on January 28, according to the Biden administration. On February 5, the balloon was shot down and landed on the coast of South Carolina. Sanctions The United States said in February that it will sanction anyone who had anything to do with what the Americans believe was a spy balloon, according to Reuters. Images from the U2 spy plane show the Chinese balloon is clearly equipped to gather intelligence, not weather data, according to an official statement from the US government in February. It had several antennas suitable for finding military transmitters on the ground. It also had solar panels to back it up, according to the same statement from the US. The balloon was shot down by an American fighter plane after it had flown over most of the northern United States, including places where the United States has its nuclear weapons, as well as large bombers.
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