michigan. we do know that object was shot down by an f-16. norad s commander says they aren t calling that object a balloon because they re not able to say right now how that object was able to stay in the air. the uncertainty is escalating the war of words between the united states and china. china claims the united states has been flying balloons over chinese airspace without permission. that s an argument admiral john kirby flatly denied earlier. not true. not doing it. that s absolutely not true. we or not flying balloons over china. also this week, over a week since the devastating earthquakes in turkey and syria, rescue crews are amazingly still finding survivors in the rubble this morning, but the devastation is immense, spanning the area nearly the size of texas, and the number of people confirmed dead is now more than 35,000. in moments i ll be talking with former arizona senator jeff flake, now the ambassador to turkey about how the u.s. is helping people there.
has suggested the very purpose is to collect on our radar system, air defense systems, including the systems of the aircraft taking them down, the f-22, f-16, the radar pods, the missiles in the like. specifically the terminal phase of flight, that only happening when you re taking a shot of these things. the very purpose may be to draw fire to figure out hour our systems work. this may sound cynical. in the world of spycraft this could be legit, jamil. is it possible that after what we know is a chinese spy balloon, after that was shot down, is it possible that things might have been launched to do exactly what you re saying. they may not be something that has a lot of information gathering technology, but they may be saying let s see how long it takes, how they will react? that s certainly a very real
going with prevailing winds up the east coast. very stormy winds. a lot of precip here on the east coast today and just kind of grabbing across the sky looking like one of the balloons a child can buy at sea world. in real life, it is an enormous piece of electronics. it contains several on-board radar pods that are designed and marketed by raytheon to keep the skies safe over whatever given city. versions of this, predecessors of this product, not this exact product, used in the nation s dual wars to watch the air space and perhaps keep eyes on people on the ground in places like baghdad and kabul. this, however, is said to be an airborne radar platform that working at 10,000 feet, tethered to the earth can take in the skies in an area as large as the state of texas.