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WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. general responsible for bringing down a Chinese spy balloon said on Monday the military had not detected previous spy balloons before the one that appeared on Jan. 28 over the United States and called it an "awareness gap." The Pentagon said over the weekend that Chinese spy balloons had briefly flown over the United States at least three times during President Donald Trump's administration and one previously under President Joe Biden. He did not provide details on previous balloons, including where over the United States they flew. Senior U.S. officials have offered to brief individuals from the previous administration on the details of previous balloons overflights when Trump was president. A U.S. Air Force fighter jet shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast on Saturday, a week after it first entered U.S. airspace and triggered a dramatic -- and public -- spying saga that worsened Sino-U.S. relations.

Beijing condemned the shooting down of the balloon as an "obvious overreaction" and urged Washington to show restraint. Some U.S. Republicans have questioned why the balloon was not shot down before it was allowed to travel across the United States. Senior U.S. officials have offered to brief former Trump administration officials on the details of what the White House said were three China balloon overflights when Donald Trump was president. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China learned its balloon had drifted over the United States after being notified by Washington. On Sunday, Colombia's military said it sighted an airborne object similar to a balloon after the Pentagon said on Friday another Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America.

The United States operates a military base and nuclear missile silos in Montana, a state bordering Idaho. Military officials developed a plan to shoot down the balloon on Wednesday as it flew over Montana. BALLOON MANEUVERSThe U.S. government has declined to say which sites the Chinese balloon surveyed. On Friday, the Pentagon said it expected the balloon to keep flying over the United States for several more days. "That will make it fairly easy, actually," a military official said of the recovery operation in the Atlantic.

☆ U.S. working to recover suspected Chinese spy balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 5 (Reuters) - The United States is working to recover a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, according to a statement released by the Pentagon on Sunday. "Our U.S. Navy component is currently conducting recovery operations, with the U.S. Coast Guard assisting in securing the area and maintaining public safety," General Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, said. China says the airship was used for meteorological and other scientific purposes. Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Santa Claus undaunted by arctic blast, U.S. military says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Keith Coffman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Royal Canadian Air Force's 22 Wing holds it’s annual NORAD Tracks Santa promotion at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) North Bay in North Bay, Ontario, Canada December 9, 2021. Corporal Rob Ouellette/Canadian Forces/Handout via REUTERSDENVER, Dec 24 (Reuters) - U.S. military officials have assured anxious children the arctic blast and snowstorm that wreaked havoc on U.S. airline traffic this week will not prevent Santa Claus from making his annual Christmas Eve flight. The Santa tracker tradition originated from a 1955 misprint in a Colorado Springs newspaper of the telephone number of a department store for children to call and speak with Santa. U.S. and Canadian fighter jet pilots provide a courtesy escort for him over North America, and Santa slows down to wave to them, he added. Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Steve Gorman and Philippa FletcherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Santa's 25-acre North Pole home is now worth over $1 million — and it has hot cocoa on tap, according to Zillow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Santa's fictional cabin is once again available for viewing on real estate site Zillow. The 25-acre property was valued at $650,000 in 2016 and is worth an estimated $1.1 million in 2022. Santa's house is one of Zillow's most viewed homes, according to the company. According to the off-market listing, Santa's home is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom cabin built in 1822 and "steeped in Old World charm." Santa's helpers have their own living quarters in "Elf Village," according to Zillow.

☆ I run NORAD's Santa tracker program. It takes thousands of volunteers and state-of-the-art tech to give kids Santa's real-time location.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Taayoo Murray | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Lieutenant Sean Carter is a public-affairs officer who runs the NORAD Tracks Santa program. The tradition started by accident in 1955, and now an average of 1,500 volunteers help every year. I'm also the NORAD Tracks Santa program manager. Before taking over as the NORAD Tracks Santa program manager, I briefly worked in public affairs at Space Base Delta 1 — a Space Force unit responsible for installations all around the globe. NORAD has other events, but for the past 67 years, one of the Department of Defense's largest outreach events has been NORAD Tracks Santa.

Over recent years, NATO allies and Russia have scaled up military exercises in the region; Chinese and Russian warships conducted a joint exercise in the Bering Sea in September. Four Arctic experts say it would take the West at least 10 years to catch up with Russia's military in the region, if it chose to do so. "NATO is increasing its presence in the Arctic with more modern capabilities," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters. Now NATO and Arctic allies are changing their stance. Sweden and Finland have begun investing in surveillance and deterrence capabilities and military hardware including jets so their air forces can fight alongside Arctic NATO allies.

☆ The US and Canada are updating a Cold War-era system to keep an eye on Russian and Chinese missiles. Experts say they need to add a lot more territory too.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The US and Canada are modernizing NORAD to watch for Russian, Chinese, and North Korean missiles. At the same time, some experts argue that the command should expand beyond North America to include Denmark and its North American territory, Greenland. North American Aerospace Defense Command, as it's now known, is also responsible for detecting and tracking North Korean missile launches. But the North Pole is still a dagger pointed at North America. The defense of North America is still on NORAD's radar.

The U.S. Air Force dispatched two F-16 fighter jets to intercept a pair of Russian bombers that flew close to Alaska on Monday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement. Air Defense Identification Zones are areas of airspace that require all aircraft to be identified, located and have their flight plan controlled "in the interest of national security," according to the Federal Aviation Administration. NORAD, a combined air defense organization of the United States and Canada, said the Russian activity was "not seen as a threat nor is the activity seen as provocative." The appearance of Russian bombers and their interception by U.S. fighter jets does come at a fraught time in the relationship between the two countries, however. He noted that his deputy, Pyotr Tolstoy, had previously proposed holding a referendum in Alaska, RBC reported.

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