Chinese spy balloon carried 'multiple antennas' for collecting signals intelligence, State Dept. says

The Chinese balloon that flew above the U.S. for eight days included "Multiple antennas" capable of collecting signals intelligence, a senior State Department official said Thursday, and the balloon maker has proven ties to the Chinese military. While China condemned the U.S. for destroying what it said was a weather balloon, the State Department official described the balloon as carrying equipment designed to collect communications and threatened action against Beijing. According to the official, photos taken by high-altitude U-2 planes confirmed the presence of the equipment, including "Multiple antennas likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications" and "Solar panels large enough to produce the requisite power to operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors." The equipment was "Inconsistent" with that aboard weather balloons. The senior State Department official said that the U.S. is confident that the manufacturer of the balloon "Has a direct relationship with China's military and is an approved vendor of the , according to information published in an official procurement portal for the PLA.". The FBI said Thursday that it arrived on the scene to collect balloon debris on Feb. 5, the day after the balloon was shot down, and that debris from the balloon was first transported to the bureau on Feb. 6. U.S. officials said previously that there had been multiple Chinese balloon flights over American territory during the former Trump administration and another during the Biden administration. "What we do know is that in some cases, whereas some of these balloons previously had not been identified, subsequent analysis, subsequent intelligence analysis did enable us to indicate that these were Chinese balloons," Ryder said.