A Chinese spy balloon was able to gather intelligence from several US military sites and send the information back to Beijing, officials said.
The high-altitude balloon was able to make multiple passes over some of the sites before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, according to reports.
Two senior US officials and one former official told NBC News that the balloon could transmit the information back to Beijing in real time.
“The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images,” the officials said.
Reports claim that the balloons were equipped with a self-destruct mechanism that Chinese officials could possibly activate remotely.
Specialist salvage teams recovered critical electronics from the craft after it was downed by a US fighter jet earlier this year. Fragments included key sensors thought to be used for intelligence gathering, the US military’s Northern Command said.
The FBI has been examining the items for the past few months.
China denies it was a government spy vessel.
It flew over the US and Canada for a week before President Joe Biden ordered it to be shot down.
It was the first of four objects downed in US airspace over eight days.
