New documents allegedly leaked by Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira and first reported by Washington to post, It indicates that US officials are aware of the four Chinese surveillance bubbles. That’s three more than the plane that flew over the continental US and was shot down in February. Another balloon was spotted over a US carrier strike group stationed in the Pacific and was never reported.

Meanwhile, a third balloon crashed into the South China Sea. Additionally, more than a week after it was shut down, authorities still haven’t been able to detect the balloon’s several sensors and antennas over the continental US. It is now learned that intelligence officials classified the downed balloon as Killin-23.

Teixeira, 21, was arrested on Thursday and charged under the Espionage Act on suspicion of leaking several classified documents on a Discord chat. Documents he claims to have been illegally distributed include transcripts and classified documents photographed and distributed.

Other balloons were named Bulger-21 and Accardo-21, according to official documents. However, it is not yet clear whether these balloons are the same as those that flew over the US carrier group or those that fell into the South China Sea. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US intelligence official told the Post: What The balloons are named after notorious criminals in alphabetical order.

Advanced surveillance technologies

Sources included reports from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), which stated that the Killeen-23 could generate enough power to operate “any” surveillance technology such as radar. At the same time, the Bulger-21 and Accardo-21 had advanced surveillance equipment, the latter included a “hanging hinge” sensor.

The Pentagon and the Directorate of National Intelligence did not comment.

This to mail He also noted that Chinese military researchers have been writing for years about the benefits of deploying synthetic aperture radar capabilities on “near space” vehicles, citing an article published in the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military.

In September 2020, a report described how radar and photoelectric surveillance equipment could be installed on airships and balloons to identify attack targets. In February, the Biden administration came under heavy fire from Republicans for its slow response to the Chinese surveillance ball. Politicians argued that this put Americans at risk by giving the Chinese government additional time to spy on the nation. Source