A new mysterious balloon has been discovered flying over the US.
The US military is tracking the apparatus and does not yet know where it came from and what its nature is, three government officials told NBC News on Monday.
It passed over Hawaii but not over any areas with sensitive information, according to the officials.
The US military determined that the balloon does not present a threat to national security or aerial traffic, an official said. The object is not known to be sending signals.
It was first detected in the air at the end of last week.
US officials did not immediately know if it was a weather balloon, the source said. It is not believed to be owned by China.
The object did not seem like it was able to be maneuvered and was heading towards Mexico, officials said.
Representatives with the National Security Council and the Department of Defense have not commented publicly on the balloon.
It comes nearly three months after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon that flew over sensitive military sites across the nation. The US downed the balloon off the Carolina coast and later recovered the debris from the Atlantic Ocean.
China, which insisted it was a weather monitoring balloon, responded with fury and demanded the pieces be returned.
The spy balloon had ‘multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications’, said a US State Department spokesperson at the time. It had solar panels that were big enough to ‘operate multiple active intelligence collection sensors’, the official said.
It managed to gather intelligence despite the Biden administration making efforts to block it.
The balloon manufacturer ‘has a direct relationship with China’s military and is an approved vendor of the (People’s Liberation Army)’, the US official said.
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