15 February 2023 – An undated handout image received on 9 December 2022 from the British Prime Minister’s Office shows an artist’s impression of the possible final design of the aircraft currently known as Tempest. On the same day, Japan, Britain and Italy announced “an ambitious endeavour to develop a next‑generation fighter aircraft by 2035” in a joint statement (photo by Handout/British Prime Minister’s Office/AFP).
A fresh analysis by Japan’s defence ministry strongly suggests that several unidentified aerial objects that entered Japanese airspace in recent years were Chinese spy balloons. The ministry said that, after further examination of balloon‑shaped objects detected in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, it concluded that these balloons were “strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China.” It demanded that the Chinese government confirm the facts and ensure that such incidents do not recur, calling violations of airspace by foreign unmanned reconnaissance balloons “totally unacceptable.”
Japan announced last week that it was re‑analysing a series of incidents involving unidentified aerial objects in light of a Chinese spy balloon shot down by the United States after it crossed U.S. territory. Following that incident, the U.S. military adjusted radar settings to detect smaller objects and identified three additional unidentified craft, which President Joe Biden ordered to be shot down—one over Alaska, another over Canada, and a third over Lake Huron in Michigan (AFP).
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