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Schumer says the Chinese were “humiliated” after three flying objects were shot down.U.S. Army

US and Canadian forces continue sea and land searches to recover parts of three objects shot down over North America last week in hostile weather conditions.

U.S. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that officials were convinced that all three objects shot down by air-to-air missiles this week were balloons.he put his accusing finger firmly on China.

“The Chinese were humiliated. I think the Chinese were caught lying,” he said. “It’s a real setback for them.”

Schumer said U.S. Army And intelligence agencies were “laser-focused” on gathering information about flying objects and analyzing what steps needed to be taken to protect American interests in the future. He said it was “wild” that the U.S. government didn’t know about the balloon spy program until “a few months ago.”

US and Canadian officials are now rushing to retrieve balloon elements from all three crash sites.most of the time Recent caseThe unidentified flying object was shot down by a North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) F-22 fighter jet within Canadian airspace on Saturday.

Canadian forces on Sunday were trying to reach shipwreck in a remote and rugged area of ​​the Yukon. was considered dangerous to

The US military search continues in difficult conditions off the coast of South Carolina. Alaska Following the last two interceptions. Part of the first destroyed balloon, the largest of the three objects, was shot down on February 4, about six miles off the South Carolina coast.

Underwater survey and recovery teams are already retrieving debris from the ocean floor 50 feet below. Fragments are currently being taken to a military laboratory for analysis.

US officials told reporters That stormy seas are delaying the mission. The Chinese government has confirmed that the balloon is its own and claims it was used only for meteorological research.

The Pentagon disputes the characterization, saying early indications suggest the balloon carried powerful equipment capable of intercepting communications. Flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet, the balloon was first spotted off the coast of Alaska on January 28 and then tracked by US forces for several days as it passed through US airspace.

The Air Force, out of concern for civilians on the ground, decided to wait until it had crossed the Atlantic before shooting it down, the Pentagon said.

Schumer defended the decision on Sunday, drawing criticism from Republicans. Joe Biden The White House did not take immediate action. By chasing the balloon across the country, the United States has gained “a wealth of information” about what China is doing, he said.

Schumer predicted that the entire object would grow back within days. “It’s a big coup for the United States,” he told his This Week on ABC.

A third search is underway in dangerous conditions off the coast of Alaska near Prudhoe Bay, a major oil drilling community. On Friday afternoon, an F-22 fighter jet using the Sidewinder air-to-air missile shot down a flying object described by US officials as roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle car.

Fragments of the ship landed in frozen waters in an area of ​​snow and ice that made navigating in subzero temperatures very difficult. The recovery team uses helicopters and her HC-130 search and rescue aircraft as Navy boats cannot reach the location.

Tensions have risen on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border, with three plane crashes in one week. In a sign of turmoil, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration closed parts of Montana’s airspace to air traffic late Saturday night after a “radar anomaly” was reported.

Norad fighters were sent to search the skies, but found nothing.

A trio of flying objects has caused political stress both internationally and domestically. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken postponed the first visit Since 2018, to Beijing by a senior American diplomat in response to a Chinese balloon high-altitude intrusion.

U.S. officials told media outlets they had tracked the balloon program to many locations within China.

Local news outlet cited China’s side of the swirling controversy bloomberg news On Sunday, the Chinese government said it was preparing to shoot down an unidentified flying object said to have been spotted over the port of Qingdao.

At home, we see tensions rising between the new Republican leadership in the House of Representatives and the Biden administration over the handling of spy objects in the U.S. Congress as well. Republicans were critical of the Pentagon’s decision to allow a Chinese balloon to fly over the heart of America before it was shot down, but at least three suspected Chinese spy ships have been killed by President Donald Trump. He was less forthright about how he intruded into U.S. airspace under his previous executive order. The president’s government is apparently unknown.

House Intelligence Committee Republican Chairman Mike Turner on Sunday called on the Biden administration to take a positive stance on flying objects. “I’d rather them be trigger-happy than generous,” he told CNN’s State of the Union.

“This administration must now declare that it will protect its airspace.”

Turner said the three airborne objects in short succession exposed a gap in the US defense. “What the public debate has made clear is that we really don’t have a proper radar system, and we certainly don’t have an integrated missile defense system,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/12/schumer-chinese-humiliated-flying-objects-shot-down Schumer says the Chinese were “humiliated” after three flying objects were shot down.U.S. Army

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