{"id":47487,"date":"2023-02-02T23:16:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T23:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/02\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:06:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:06:23","slug":"chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2023\/02\/02\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese surveillance balloon detected over Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/global\/the-americas\/2022\/04\/28\/eyeing-hypersonic-threat-canada-nears-robust-norad-investment\/\" target=\"_blank\">North American Aerospace Defense Command<\/a> is tracking a high-altitude Chinese <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/08\/11\/military-midwest-balloon-flights-didnt-spy-on-civilians\/\" target=\"_blank\">surveillance balloon<\/a> floating over the U.S., the Pentagon confirmed Thursday, but there are no plans to shoot it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The balloon is floating above commercial air traffic and doesn\u2019t present a threat to anything on the ground currently, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cInstances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years,\u201d Ryder said. \u201cOnce the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A senior defense official declined to say how long the government had been tracking the balloon, and declined to elaborate on previous known instances of spy balloons floating over the U.S., saying only that the government is confident the balloon belongs to China and that it has lingered over U.S. air space for a longer period of time than previous balloons.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2022\/12\/29\/dangerously-close-video-shows-chinese-jet-buzzing-us-spy-plane\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"163\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/J-11-Rivet-Joint-intercept-screenshot.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">\u2018Dangerously\u2019 close: Video shows Chinese jet buzzing US spy plane<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. military said this incident \u201creflects a concerning trend of unsafe and dangerous intercept practices&quot; by China.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, the head of Northern Command, advised President Biden on Wednesday not to shoot the balloon down, over concerns that debris could cause casualties on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCurrently, we assess that this balloon has limited added value from an intelligence collection perspective, but we are taking steps, nevertheless, to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information,\u201d the official said. \u201cWe\u2019re also tracking what abilities that could have in gaining insight and continue to monitor the balloon as it is over the continental United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the balloon drifted over Montana, it prompted the shutdown of the Billings airport on Wednesday and the alert of Air Force F-22 fighters as part of a possible plan to shoot it down over a more sparsely populated part of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo, we wanted to make sure we were coordinating with civil authorities to empty out the airspace around that central area but, even with those protective measures taken, it was the judgment of our military commanders that it didn\u2019t drive the risk down low enough, so we didn\u2019t take the shot,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Montana is home to one of three U.S. bases operating nuclear fields, but the official said it\u2019s unlikely the balloon could see anything more than orbiting Chinese satellites are already able to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut out of an abundance of caution, we have taken additional mitigation steps that I\u2019m not going to go into \u2026 but we know exactly where this balloon is, exactly what it is passing over,\u201d the official said. \u201cWe are taking steps to be extra vigilant so that we can mitigate any foreign intelligence risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. has reached out to Chinese officials through diplomatic channels, the official added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have communicated to them the seriousness with which we take this issue, but beyond that, I\u2019m not going to go into the content of the message, but we have made clear we will do whatever is necessary to protect our people and our homeland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are no immediate plans to shoot it down, due to concerns about debris. But steps have been taken to prevent the collection of sensitive information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":106327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3356],"class_list":["post-47487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"QU44HSWI2JDXVF3CF7EA4FOZ5M","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2023\/02\/02\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chinese surveillance balloon detected over Montana - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are no immediate plans to shoot it down, due to concerns about debris. 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But steps have been taken to prevent the collection of sensitive information.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2023\/02\/02\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-02T23:16:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T15:06:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meghann Myers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Meghann Myers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Chinese surveillance balloon detected over Montana\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2023-02-02T23:16:05+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T15:06:23+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 522,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Malmstrom-gate.JPG.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Pentagon\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Chinese surveillance balloon detected over Montana - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/pentagon\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/chinese-surveillance-balloon-detected-over-montana\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Malmstrom-gate.JPG.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2023-02-02T23:16:05+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T15:06:23+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"There are no immediate plans to shoot it down, due to concerns about debris. 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