Page 878 - Capabilities News Today

Their scientific balloons. were getting into the stratosphere at this point in time. the problem is these types of devices cannot be picked up very easily in terms of radar traffic, so as things go floating through the united states, this basic path right here, which is what the balloon took, when it does that, its not always possible for radar installations to pick these balloons up. so thats why we need to fine-tune radar. we also need to fine-tune the intelligence capabilities to recognize da...

Jamming capabilities, and they say they utilize those capabilities to block in effect the balloon from being able to gather intelligence as it traversed the continental united states. thats a plausible statement. the u.s. has advanced jamming capabilities, those capabilities, designed to be able to mitigate threats from super sonic air craft, including super sonic air craft, this of course a slow moving balloon. it is plausible that the u.s. used those technologies and that they would have had e...

Really perceiving the threat when it comes to how the chinese are using these instruments. >> lets talk about the fallout now. i mean, what are the capabilities that we as the united states has in terms of monitoring it and tracking it as its making this path across the continental united states to prevent too much surveillance from happening while its floating over land as it did over the last week? >> right. lets take a look first of all at the different altitudes that all of these platforms c...

This was miles out from where we were that we went this morning, and they essentially again, told us to turn back around, john. they followed us for a bit to make sure we were turning around. very serious making sure that perimeter stays. they believe this should be an easy recovery because its only about 47 feet of water that that balloon crashed down to. >> remarkable search effort under way. lets bring the conversation in the room, joining me to share the reporting and insights, manu raju, ai...

I know you said that president biden should have shot the balloon down the moment it entered u.s. airspace. the pentagon said the payload attached to the balloon weighed thousands of pounds with an expected debris field of some 15 football fields by 15 football fields. knowing what you know now, do you still think it should have been shot down immediately as soon as it entered the u.s.? >> yeah, wolf, i think it should have been shot down previous to entering the u.s. maybe i wasnt clear on that...

Beijing describing the u.s. decision to shoot down the balloon is an obviously overreaction, they say. they insist, still, that it was a weather balloon, just a civilian balloon. the pentagon says this was an attempt to spy on strategic locations in the u.s., and they say its not the first time. they say at least four other chinese balloons have been spotted in our airspace over the last few years. nbc news white house correspondent, mike memoli, along with george solis on the ground in south ca...

Intelligence gathered will be of value. >> there was a potential opportunity for us to collect intel where we had gaps on prior balloons. this gave us the opportunity to assess what they were actually doing, what kind of capabilities existed on the balloon, what kind of transmission capabilities existed. and i think you will see in the future that that time frame was well worth its value to collect. over. >> a senior biden official says the first pieces of the balloon have already reached quanti...

0 >> i mean she left behind her three beautiful children that are going to grow up without having a mother. to teach them. >> well but i see her in so many things. i am just constantly reminded of. her we i feel like she is still there, she still here with us. . this sunday up in the air. u.s. fighter jets shoot down a chinese spy balloon flying in u.s. air space >> i told them to shoot it down. >> reporter: the incident forced the secretary of state to postpone a high stakes trip to beijing a...

>> i agree with my colleague, the ranking member, it is better to recover this and analyze it and see what we might learn about what the capabilities there are and how the chinese are attempting to do this, rather than spread over a long, long debris field. it made sense to not shoot this down until it was over the united states territory. >> and it sound like the pentagon was taking it very seriously. defense secretary lloyd austin said the balloon was being used to surveil strategic sites in t...

Stopping all air traffic from wilmington, north carolina from myrtle beach, south carolina, and charleston. then the air force itself shut the balloon down with an f 22 and the navy and coast guard was in the water off the south carolina coast to collect all that debris you were just talking about because -- and because this balloon was traveling in the air for so many days across the country for idaho to montana, all the way down to the carolinas, the u.s. intelligence agencies had had a signif...