Why hasn't the US shot down the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon?

As the US and its Canadian companions proceed to observe a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon floating above the northern United States, one query stands out among the many relaxation: Why hasn’t it been shot down?

Officials have stated that the balloon’s path carries it over a “number of sensitive sites” within the US. The balloon – which is the scale of three buses – has been seen over Montana, which is dwelling to underground US army intercontinental ballistic missile silos.

But finally, officers decided that the potential harm of falling particles outweighed the danger of the balloon itself, which they stated doesn’t have the power to herald extra intelligence than spy satellites in low Earth orbit, which China already makes use of.

A high altitude balloon floats over Billings, Mont., on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. — The US is monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been noticed over US airspace. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette by way of AP)

“Why not shoot it down? We have to do the risk-reward here,” a senior defence official stated on Thursday.

“So the first question is, does it pose a threat, a physical kinetic threat, to individuals in the United States in the US homeland? Our assessment is it does not.

“Does it pose a menace to civilian aviation? Our evaluation is it doesn’t. Does it pose a considerably enhanced menace on the intelligence facet? Our greatest evaluation proper now’s that it doesn’t.

“So given that profile, we assess the risk of downing it, even if the probability is low in a sparsely populated area of the debris falling and hurting someone or damaging property, that it wasn’t worth it.”

A US official added on Friday to CNN: “This isn’t like Top Gun where it just explodes and doesn’t go anywhere. It’s large and it’s metal, it would put hundreds of Americans at risk.”

President Joe Biden was briefed on the balloon’s actions and requested choices from his army advisers. And whereas there was consideration to down the balloon whereas it was over Montana, the recommendation was to finally to not.

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Joe Biden was briefed on the balloon’s actions and requested choices from his army advisers. (AP)

The Biden administration acted “immediately” to guard towards the gathering of delicate intelligence, an official stated on Thursday.

But that is to not say that it could not be shot down ultimately; the senior defence official stated on Thursday that the US has “options to deal with this balloon” if the danger it poses modifications.

“We have communicated to (Chinese officials) the seriousness with which we take this issue. … But we have made clear we will do whatever is necessary to protect our people and our homeland,” the official stated.

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Chinese officers referred to as the balloon a “civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,” which “deviated far from its planned course”.

A US official stated there have been comparable incidents with suspected Chinese surveillance balloons over Hawaii and Guam lately.

On Thursday, a senior defence official stated, “Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years, including prior to this administration.”