The suspected Chinese espionage airship that was downed by an American F-22 fighter on Saturday was targeting “sensitive military sites” as part of a program that has been known to US officials for a number of years, the White House has said.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a briefing on Monday that China’s claim that the airship was a civilian craft sent aloft for climate study purposes “strains credulity”, and said US officials have known that the Chinese military had “a measure of control” over the speed and direction of the balloon, which was surveilling “sensitive military sites” in the US.
