U2’s top-secret spy planes monitored Chinese globe as TWO MORE previously spied sites emerge

The United States used U2 spy planes, first deployed during the Cold War, to monitor the Chinese balloon, as reports suggested similar balloons were previously seen at two more sensitive military sites, but the intelligence community classified them as UFOs.

U-2S Dragon Lady spy planes were enlisted as part of last week’s fight to test the balloon because it can fly at extremely high altitude.

The balloon was at 60,000 feet, and the U-2S routinely flies above 70,000 feet: most fighter jets fly between 45,000 and 51,000 feet.

The U-2S was deployed both to observe the Chinese balloon from above and to potentially jam the transmission of whatever data it was collecting.

It’s unclear when the U-2S was deployed, or for what parts of the spy balloon’s seven-day odyssey across the US.

The use of the U-2S was first reported by the war zone.

Single-seat, single-engine aircraft were first launched in 1955, and even today they are considered the most difficult aircraft in the world to fly. Pilots must wear a full pressure suit similar to those worn by astronauts, and landing is extremely precarious due to limited visibility thanks to the plane’s long nose.

“The U-2 is capable of collecting a variety of images, including multispectral electro-optical, infrared, and synthetic aperture radar products that can be stored or sent to exploitation centers on the ground,” the Air Force states.

“In addition, it also supports the high-resolution, wide-area synoptic coverage provided by the optical bar camera that produces traditional film products that are developed and analyzed after landing.”

The United States Air Force has 33 U-2S, based at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, California.

They are often deployed around the world to give ‘indications of recent activity in areas of interest,’ the Air Force states,

They are also used to “reveal efforts to hide the location or true nature of man-made objects” and to help in humanitarian disasters such as floods or earthquakes.

As the dispute over the spy balloon continues, and Republicans repeatedly question why Joe Biden did not order it shot down when it first entered US airspace, the Pentagon has confirmed two more spy balloon sightings.

The first spy balloon under the Biden administration was described as having arrived “before” his term, with the balloon being described as passing over the continental US.

Officials did not specify where.

A second spy balloon crashed in the Pacific off Hawaii four months ago, around October 2022.

And the third and most recent spy balloon entered US airspace over Alaska on January 28 and was seen from the ground and commercial aircraft over Montana on February 1. On February 4, it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

Biden wanted to take it down as soon as he was told, on February 1, but Pentagon bosses told him it was too risky and could injure people and damage property below.

Donald Trump has criticized Biden for not taking him down, but Pentagon chiefs later said there were several raids while Trump was in the White House.

He angrily denied his claim, and both his defense secretary, Mark Esper, and national security adviser, John Bolton, said they were also surprised to hear that there were Chinese spy balloons over the US on their watch.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of US Northern Command, said Monday that the Defense Department “did not detect” the above balloons, adding that the intelligence community learned about them through other means of intelligence gathering. .

Reports then suggested these officials were aware of the raids but did not raise the matter with top Pentagon or White House leadership, classifying them instead as ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ or UFOs, the sources said. The New York Times.

Officials, working in recent years with renewed vigor to investigate UFOs, concluded that the sightings noted above were in fact spy balloons.

“We did not detect those threats,” VanHerck told reporters.

“The intelligence community after the fact, I think it has already been reported, evaluated those threats from additional means of collection and informed us of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transiting North America.”

An increasing number of sightings have now been recorded as Chinese spy balloon raids.

Last week, Hawaii and Guam were confirmed to have detected spy balloons: both island sites have large military bases.

Over the weekend, Florida and Texas were confirmed as locations for a sighting under the Trump administration.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Chinese spy balloons had also been sighted over Norfolk, Virginia, and Coronado, California, while Trump was in office.

Both locations house aircraft carriers.

The tally now stands at six forays during the Trump administration and three under Biden, with a fourth balloon currently drifting over South America, heading north through Colombia.

VanHerck said it was concerning that the Pentagon did not immediately detect and correctly identify the balloons, saying they were now working urgently to improve their detection capabilities.

“I’ll tell them we didn’t detect those threats,” he said.

“And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to address.”