Spy balloons: what they have to do with the UFO sightings of the past few years

Unidentified aerial phenomena
What the Chinese spy balloon has (not) to do with the UFO sightings of the past few years

Suddenly the sky seems to be full of spy balloons. Four flying objects were taken out of American airspace. The phenomenon is not new, it has probably been incorrectly classified by the US Department of Defense.

No, US commander Glen VanHerck did not want to rule out the possibility that aliens would be flying over the US. “I’ll leave it to the intelligence services and counterintelligence to find out,” the chief of the US armed forces told reporters. The reason was the repeated shooting down of a flying object in American airspace – the fourth within a few days. Since a Chinese spy balloon was recently discovered in the United States, a regular hunt for more or less unknown flying objects has evidently begun. And with this keyword, the public is quick and happy to turn freely.

UFOs are now ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’

Just a few weeks ago, the US Department of Defense had theirs regular report on the so-called “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” published, as UFOs have been officially called for several years. Unidentified aerial phenomena, then. Reason for renaming: Many appearances don’t turn out to be objects, but reflections, flashes, laser pointers and so on. According to the Pentagon, 247 UFO sightings have been reported since March 2021, of which more than 200 have been cleared up. It was about drones, balloons sometimes even plastic bags.

And the rest? 143 observations in the years 2004 to 2021 are still considered unexplained. Inexplicable sightings by Navy pilots caused a lot of media attention. During test flights over the years, they repeatedly noticed objects on their machines that could move unusually fast and change direction. The sightings are still unexplained and cannot be explained by the usual confusion with balloons or reflections (read more about this here).

The Americans believe it is possible that observation errors or manipulations are behind the phenomena, but advanced aircraft from the USA or abroad are also conceivable, as the report says. In short: A small part of the previously unknown flying objects remain unknown flying objects for the time being. In addition, of course, it cannot be ruled out that the United States is not always interested in the origin of the UFOs being clarified. If only to keep their own activities under the rug.

USA would have let ten balloons fly

Shortly after the United States accused China of launching the first spy balloon, the Beijing government complained that the United States was “the leading spy empire in the world.” Now she has followed up with concrete figures: A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said that the United States had illegally flown balloons at high altitudes over China more than ten times in the past year. The US should stop blaming others that it is fairly common for US balloons to fly at high altitudes over other countries.

Now Taiwan, the island republic claimed by Beijing off the southeast coast of China, is also speaking up. According to a media report, dozens of Chinese military balloons have entered Taiwanese airspace in recent years – many more than previously known. “They come very frequently, the last one just a few weeks ago,” a senior Taiwan official said, according to the Financial Times. Such overflights would occur on average once a month, it said. The US government previously claimed that China’s balloon surveillance program covers more than 40 countries on five continents.

Three balloons under Trump in the US sky

If these numbers are correct, the sky should be teeming with spy balloons. Which raises the question of why it has so rarely been seen and heard from. During Donald Trump’s presidency, three balloons similar to the one now in American airspace were discovered – which, however, had no consequences. The “New York Times” suspectsthat they have been classified by the Department of Defense under the “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” heading. “As the Pentagon and intelligence agencies struggle to explain many of these incidents over the past two years, officials have reclassified some events as Chinese spy balloons,” the paper writes.

Of the four objects that have been brought down from the sky so far, it is officially only clear what function it had and where it came from. The only thing known about the others is that they don’t seem to be comparable to the first espionage balloon. Design the recovery of UFO numbers two and three is also difficult because of the arctic temperatures, according to the responsible US command.

Balloon program exposed inappropriately

It is probably most likely that all the major powers are sending their balloons around the world, but understandably do not want to see this hanging on the big bell. Experts interpret the fact that the Americans made an exception when they discovered the Chinese spy plane in several ways: Either the US government wanted to deliberately expose China in order to show the public how dangerous China is. Or the accusation of espionage is a brutal step in “Operation Black Box” with which Washington is trying to persuade the government in Beijing to at least communicate in some way in times of crisis. But it is also possible that the Chinese balloon program was just badly timed or was exposed at an inappropriate time.

Sources: DPA, AFP, NBC.com“Space.com“, CNN“The New Zurich Times“, MSN.comDirector of National Intelligence