Page 67 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2023 Edition

Why Canada Didn’t Shoot China Balloon 67

When a suspected Chinese

spy balloon flew over
Canada, why didn't we

shoot it down?

Continued from Page 66

Bercuson agreed, saying China didn't just

want to make sure the North Americans
saw the balloon — it wanted to know
how they would react to seeing it.

"They don't just want to take pictures of
missile fields in Montana, for example.
They want to know how we're
responding. How good is our technology
to respond to the existence of this
balloon," he said.

Bercuson says as it has become clear that
this was not the first such balloon China A big part of the decision of where to do "So once the decision was made that this
has deployed, the Chinese were likely it had to do with the sheer size of the thing would be shot down," he said, "if
saying to themselves, "well, that clearly balloon. we didn't have the capability of doing it,
they're not picking this stuff up, so why the Americans would do it."
not keep doing it until they do?" VanHerck said the balloon was 200 feet
tall — or about 60 metres — with a What does this incident say about
VanHerck did admit in his comments payload he characterized as "a jetliner our overall security?
Monday that this was not the first time type of size" weighing "in excess of a

this kind of surveillance balloon had couple thousand pounds" or at least 900 Opposition parties also wanted to know
flown over North America and that such kilograms. why Canadians didn't even find out about
balloons evaded detection by North the balloon until it had already left
America's aging early warning system in The debris field was expected to be about Canadian airspace and what's now being
the past because of a "domain awareness 1,500 metres by 1,500 metres. done to prevent and punish Chinese
gap" that has since been closed. espionage efforts.
But Clancy said, had the balloon posed an
While VanHerck didn't elaborate on that imminent threat, assessments about "It is high time the government took
"gap," Clancy says it might have been bringing it down sooner over land would action to counter Chinese influence and
that the radar systems poised to detect have been made. modernize Canada's defence systems,"
threats are set to ignore data that is below Bloc Québécois defence critic Christine

a certain airspeed. Would Canada's fighter jets have Normandin said in a statement in French.
had the capability to shoot the
"When humans are looking at those
balloon down? National Defence Department
screens it is impossible to pick out threats spokesperson Jessica Lamirande said the
from all the rest of the data without some
The operating altitude of Canada's CF-18 decision about when to tell Canadians
filters to screen out unwanted contacts,"
Hornet fighter jets is 50,000 feet (15,000 was a joint one.
he clarified in a later email, adding that
metres), while Pentagon press secretary
NORAD may have closed the gap by
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the balloon had "While the object was moving, analysis
adding enhanced data processing on top
been flying at about 60,000 feet (18,000 ruled out the possibility the balloon posed
of the existing radar systems in order to
metres) — potentially out of range for an imminent threat and further steps were
pull out the data at these low airspeeds to
those jets. taken to analyze it in collaboration with
recognize it as an actual contact. the U.S. and NORAD," she said in an

Some CBC readers have raised concerns email.
Was the plan always to shoot it
that Canada wouldn't have been able to
down over water? take action against it had the balloon been "Through this collaboration, Canada and

a threat. the U.S. jointly decided to publicize the
U.S. President Joe Biden said that he presence of the balloon at an appropriate
gave the order to shoot down the balloon Not an issue, according to Bercuson. He time, taking into account operational
on Feb. 1, and it was eventually shot says one of the main points of NORAD is security."
down off the coast of South Carolina on that Canadian and U.S. military aircraft
Feb. 4. need not seek permission every time they (Continued on Page 69)

need to fly over each other's territory.