The US officials first detected the balloon on January 28 when it entered American airspace near the Aleutian Islands. It was flying over Montana specifically Malmstrom Air Force Base, where the US stores some of its nuclear assets. The balloon was shot down on February 4, over a week after it was first detected.
American media outlet NBC News on Monday reported a Chinese high-altitude spy balloon that flew across the United States was able to collect intelligence from several sensitive US military sites. The collected data was then transmitted to Beijing in real time despite efforts by the Biden administration to prevent the same, the report stated.