A mysterious spherical object floating off the coast of Hawaii has triggered US military monitoring. The object was detected at an altitude of 36,000 ft and was confirmed to be a balloon launched by Loon, a company belonging to Google’s parent firm Alphabet. The balloon is part of a high-altitude flight project aimed at detecting planes or drones. As it posed no threat to aviation or national security, officials chose not to take it down. The sighting comes three months after the US military shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon that entered Alaska and caused interest when it travelled over Canada before being brought down off the coast of South Carolina.
The incident sees US-China relations further strained due to the ongoing geopolitical showdown in Taiwan, trade disputes, and multiple sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena. Beijing has previously disputed its spy balloon was military-related and claimed it was a “civilian airship” used for meteorological purposes, saying it “deviated far from its planned course” as a result of strong winds.
The Pentagon is also currently monitoring another suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been found to be floating above the continental US for several days. It has not been officially confirmed, nor released any information about the size of the balloon or its intended surveillance target.
In summary, while the sightings of these objects may cause concern for national security, authorities insist that they pose no actual threat to the public or to aviation. However, given the ongoing tensions between the US and China, any such sightings feed into the growing unease between the two superpowers, leading to greater scrutiny of each other’s motivations and potential actions.
