The United States shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon in February 2023.
United States Department of Defense | Handout | Anadol | Getty Images
The US military is tracking a “small” unidentified hot air balloon flying at high altitude over the West, according to two US officials and a defense official.
A fighter plane was sent to observe the balloon after it was spotted over Utah this morning. The balloon, which hovers between 43,000 and 45,000 feet, does not appear to pose a threat to U.S. national security, officials said.
The United States is not saying who owns the balloon, but two U.S. officials said early indications suggest it did not come from a foreign government.
The balloon is not maneuverable and has a box-like payload, officials said.
NBC News has reached out to the White House for comment. A National Security Council official referred NBC to the Department of Defense for official comment.
“NORAD will continue to track and monitor the balloon,” a defense official said, referring to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. “The FAA further determined that the balloon posed no flight safety hazard. NORAD remains in close coordination with the FAA to ensure flight safety.”
The balloon, first reported by CBS News, was spotted about a year after the United States shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon in February 2023. NBC News previously reported that the spy balloon was capable of gathering intelligence from multiple sensitive U.S. military sites and that the balloon used an American Internet service provider to communicate, according to multiple sources.
Chinese government representatives had denied that last year’s balloon was used for spying. Instead, they said the balloon was a civilian airship used for weather research that unintentionally ended up in the U.S.