A Chinese balloon was observed by the U.S. Air Force Central Command in the fall of 2022 but was not closely inspected because it did not appear to pose a threat, according to the top general for the region that includes the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT), said that forces had observed a high-altitude, stratospheric balloon transiting the region late last year, but that the balloon stayed primarily over the water and didn’t prompt a closer inspection.
“Was it a weather balloon? Was it some sort of a surveillance balloon? We never got up close to it because it was never a threat. We never had to go inspect it and get a visual identification of it,” Grynkewich told reporters in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Center for a New American Security.
His remarks come as the Biden administration has uncovered a worldwide Chinese-surveillance balloon program, sparking concern that the hovering aircraft have observed critical military infrastructure and picked up sensitive communications while deployed.
The U.S. shot down at least one high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this month and downed three other unidentified flying objects — in Alaska, Michigan and Canada — over the past few days.
Grynkewich, who identified the balloon as Chinese in the sighting last year, said that AFCENT had not observed these types of balloons hovering over American bases or posing a threat “to our forces whatsoever.”
The Biden administration has condemned the discovery of the Chinese surveillance balloon, first revealed on Feb. 3, as a brazen violation of U.S. sovereignty and abruptly called off a trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing.
The administration’s discovery of the Chinese balloon has prompted a closer look at unidentified flying objects previously observed, with at least four balloons observed transiting U.S. territory — three during the previous Trump administration and one discovered months ago during the Biden administration, officials have said.
The Chinese have taken responsibility for the balloon revealed over the U.S. in early February, saying they regretted the incursion into American airspace, but condemned the U.S. response as an overreaction to what they described as a weather balloon, rejecting accusations of espionage.
“We have made it clear several times that the unintended entry of China’s civilian unmanned airship into the US airspace is an entirely unexpected, isolated event caused by force majeure. The US downing of the airship is an abuse of the use of force and overreaction. We are firmly opposed to it,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday.