The Chinese Spy Balloon fiasco we witnessed in real-time across the country in recent days will undoubtedly be something that goes down in history — along with all of the other insane, historical events this generation has managed to live through. From coast to coast, Americans worked themselves into a tizzy of tensions and controversy, as the suspected spying apparatus floated it’s way across US air space.
The alleged spying device deployed by the Chinese government even got more than a handful of Right-wing congresspeople up in arms, as they unsurprisingly disagreed with the way our Executive branch of government was handling the matter. And that, of course, doesn’t even touch the multiple massive meltdowns former President Trump had over the matter.
Ultimately, the balloon was shot down by US military officials over the ocean just off the Carolina coast, and officials made quick work of gathering up the remnants of the alleged spying device to hopefully determine what sort of intelligence, if any, was collected by the Chinese government with the balloon — all in accordance and compliance with President Biden’s orders on the matter.
Now, audio recordings of the radio transmissions between US fighter jets that were closing in on the balloon, and ultimately took down the Chinese spy device, have been publicly released, igniting a new round of interest in the monumental ordeal.
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According to reporting from the Associated Press, aviation enthusiasts spent hours intently scanning radio frequencies on the day that the balloon floated over the Carolina coast, and were able to successfully capture exchanges between the pilots of the two Air Force F-22 fighter jets as they closed in on the target.
The strike was a tricky one, as NASA had advised that the balloon needed to be struck down at least six miles (10 kilometers) off the shore, to ensure that no debris struck land, while still ensuring that the device came down while it was still in U.S. territorial airspace.
Huntress, NORAD’s eastern air defense sector controller, can be heard telling the pilots, “Five miles offshore,” in a transmission that was captured by aviation hobbyist Ken Harrell. NORAD has since confirmed the authenticity of the recording.
The first F-22 reports, “Frank One is switches hot.”
HuffPost reports, “The call sign ‘Frank’ was given to both aircraft to honor 2nd Lt. Frank Luke, who earned the Medal of Honor in World War I for downing multiple balloons and aircraft.”
The second F-22 radios in, “Frank Two is switches hot.”
Frank One takes the shot as soon as Huntress confirms that the balloon device is exactly six nautical miles out.”
An F-15 fighter jet that was also involved in the operation confirms, “The balloon is completely destroyed!” before quickly advising the pilots and Huntress, “there appears to be metal chaff clouds. … It’s definitely metal breaking apart.”
The scene of U.S. fighter jets getting ready to strike a Chinese balloon had a group of aviation enthusiasts intently scanning radio frequencies for the exchanges between the pilots.
Here’s that audio:https://t.co/eBeNL1YlW7 pic.twitter.com/JhXsKAhr7G
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 8, 2023
The newly-released audio was first reported on by The War Zone, and reports have confirmed that the transmissions were not on civilian radio frequencies used by commercial pilots. Instead, the pilots involved in the operation were utilizing an unencrypted military frequency used by the North American Aerospace Defense Command to conduct missions to secure the eastern United States, under the control center named Huntress.
Read the full report from HuffPost here.
Featured image via screen capture
