The Dragon Lady in the Year of the Water Rabbit
Vital information about the Chinese spy balloon that traversed U.S. sovereign airspace between 28 January and 04 February 2023 was gleaned by 1980s vintage Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft. Subject iconic, uncannily timeless machines enabled Pentagon officials to verify the Chinese balloon’s surveillance package comprised multiple antennas that U.S. intelligence agencies posited were intended to collect and geolocate American communications signals.
A senior State Department official reported: “High-resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations.”
The U-2 flights confirmed also that the Chinese spy balloon’s intelligence sensors were powered by large solar panels.
U.S. officials have rejected Chinese claims—made subsequent the balloon’s detection and ultimate destruction off the coast of South Carolina by a USAF F-22 Raptor—that the balloon was merely an off-course atmospheric research craft. Rather, U.S. officials contend the contraption was part of a larger fleet of Chinese surveillance balloons that, for years, have been flying over forty countries on five continents.
On 09 February, the U.S. State Department set forth that the balloon, and others like it, were manufactured by a company with known ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“We know these balloons are all part of a PRC [People’s Republic of China] fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations,” a senior State Department official asserted. “These kinds of activities are often undertaken at the direction of the People’s Liberation Army. We are confident that the balloon manufacturer has a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor of the PLA, according to information published in an official procurement portal for the PLA.”
A U.S. military official confided that U-2s had flowy in support of U.S. Northern Command with required legal authority to help the U.S. government collect intelligence on the interloping balloon. The official specified neither how many U-2s took part in the missions nor how many sorties were flown. Subject official further stated the data gathered by the U-2s was supplemented by additional Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) assets, but declined to provide further details.
Head of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) General Glen D. VanHerck alleged: “Day-to-day we do not have the authority to collect intelligence within the United States of America. In this case, specific authorities were granted to collect intelligence against the balloon specifically, and we utilized specific capabilities to do that.”
Historically, U-2s have conducted U.S. domestic surveillance, operating in support of the U.S. federal government’s responses to natural disasters the likes of wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Notwithstanding VanHerck’s contention to the contrary, recent high-profile discoveries made and made public by what remains of America’s Fourth Estate suggest most compellingly that U.S. federal agencies surveil American citizens as a matter of convention.
Manufactured in the 1980s, the U.S. Air Force’s current fleet of 27 U-2 aircraft feature modular architecture capable of simultaneously accommodating a wide variety of disparate payloads, such as advanced optical equipment and signals intelligence systems. As the U-2’s service-ceiling is north of 70,000-feet, the aircraft could easily have flown above the Chinese spy balloon, which U.S. officials report was operating between 60,000 and 65,000-feet.
The aforementioned senior State Department official added: “The United States sent a clear message to the PRC that its violation of our sovereignty was unacceptable by shooting down the balloon, protecting our own sensitive intelligence, and maximizing our ability to track the balloon and recover the payload to get more information on the PRC’s program. The PRC’s program will only continue to be exposed, making it harder for the PRC to use this program.”
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