The U.S. navy is monitoring an unidentified “small” balloon flying at excessive altitudes over the west, in line with two U.S. officers and a protection official.

A fighter plane was despatched to look at the balloon after it was noticed over Utah this morning. The balloon, which is hovering at between 43,000 to 45,000 ft, doesn’t seem to pose a nationwide safety risk to the U.S., the officers mentioned.

The U.S. will not be saying who owns the balloon, however two U.S. officers mentioned that early indications recommend it isn’t from a overseas authorities.

The balloon will not be maneuverable and has a small box-like payload, the officers mentioned.

NBC Information has reached out to the White Home for remark. A Nationwide Safety Council official referred NBC to the Protection Division for official remark.

“NORAD will proceed to trace and monitor the balloon,” mentioned a protection official, referring to the North American Aerospace Protection Command. “The FAA additionally decided the balloon posed no hazard to flight security. NORAD stays in shut coordination with the FAA to make sure flight security.”

The balloon, which was first reported by CBS Information, was noticed roughly a yr after the us shot down a Chinese language surveillance balloon in February 2023. NBC News beforehand reported that the spy balloon was in a position to collect intelligence from a number of delicate U.S. navy websites, and that the balloon used an American web service supplier to speak, in line with a number of sources.

Chinese language authorities representatives had denied that final yr’s balloon was used to spy. As an alternative, they mentioned that the balloon was a civilian airship used for meteorological analysis that unintentionally drifted into the U.S.