Chinese spy balloon landed off US coast months ago – report

A Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Saturday off the coast of South Carolina was not the first of its kind to roam US airspace, a new report says.

Four months ago, a balloon crashed into the sea off the coast of Hawaii, Fox News reported, citing unnamed US officials.

The Fox News report also said that during the Trump administration, Chinese spy balloons crossed parts of Texas and Florida, a claim disputed by former President Donald Trump.

“It never happened. This would never have happened,” Trump said Sunday.

“This has never happened to us under the Trump administration, and if it did, we would immediately shoot it down. This is misinformation,” he said.

The Daily Mail reported that Chinese spy balloons had previously been spotted over Hawaii and Guam.

A February 2022 Honolulu Star-Advertiser report features an image of a hot air balloon similar to the one that roamed the American skies last week.

February 2022 USAF raises F-22 in Hawaii to high-altitude “unmanned balloon with no visible markings”.

Seems remarkably like a hot air balloon over Montana right now pic.twitter.com/2on54uVCAe

— Alexis De Popevil (@JohnPaulThee3rd) February 3, 2023

According to Hawaii News Now, the balloon that flew over Kauai prompted the military to send planes to investigate.

The Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratories operate the Kauai Rocket Launch Site, which also hosts the Pacific Missile Range, The Drive notes.

At the time, the Adjutant General of Hawaii posted a summary of events on Twitter.

“Regarding air activity over Kauai on February 14: The US Indo-Pacific Command detected a high-altitude object floating in the air in the Hawaiian Islands area. In accordance with national defense procedures, the Pacific Air Force launched a tactical aircraft to intercept and identify the object, visually confirming the presence of an unmanned balloon without visible markings, ”the tweet reads.

identify an object by visually confirming an unmanned balloon with no visible markings. As part of our normal daily operations, we keep a close eye on all ships and aircraft in the Indo-Pacific area of ​​operations through a combination of 2/3 joint capabilities

— Kenneth S. Hara (@HawaiiTAG) February 17, 2022

The report cited a Star-Advertiser article protected by paywalls in which Kauai County Councilwoman Felicia Cowan said she heard loud explosions the day planes went to check on the facility.

An Air Force spokesman later stated that nothing was shot down that day.

In last year’s piece on The Drive, Brett Tiglery and Tyler Rogoway shared their thoughts.

“There is a long history of using balloons for intelligence gathering, especially in radar and communications systems. We believe this is happening today in America’s critical learning areas off the coast of the US mainland. This coincides with what is becoming a kind of renaissance when it comes to the military using balloons as platforms for sensors, communications relays, electronic warfare systems and even to launch other ships or payloads,” they wrote.

“It’s also worth noting that normally F-22s don’t take to the air to intercept weather balloons or other high-flying lighter-than-air aircraft. The suspicious location of this balloon likely played a role in the fight,” they continued.

This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.

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