The balloon had set off a diplomatic crisis with US State Secretary Antony Blinken canceling trip to China. President Biden had ordered the US military to shoot down the device.
The so-called spy balloon is technically an observation balloon, and does what the name suggests — it observes earth and gathers imagery/data for intelligence.
US scrambled F-22s to shoot down device but stopped short of downing it after considering security risks. During US Civil War & Cold War, spy balloons were used for recce missions.
Fighter jets were mobilised but military leaders advised President Joe Biden against shooting the balloon out of the sky for fear debris could pose a safety threat, US officials said.
The contracts will run until 2028 and provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-wide, globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels.
The Biden administration will use funds from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to procure weapons, including 150 vehicles, 2 radars to track unmanned aerial systems among others.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said China bullies its neighbours in an attempt to coerce them into behaviour more in keeping with its security & economic interests.
Vazirani is currently the Principal of A2O Strategies, LLC. He also served on active duty in the United States Navy as a Submarine Officer from 1986 to 1993, the White House said.
In a news conference in Kabul Tuesday, Taliban also said the US must stick to its self-imposed deadline after which it won't let Afghans to be taken out on evacuation flights.
US currently has 5,800 troops at Kabul airport who are engaged in evacuating its citizens and Afghans who helped the United States during its stay in Afghanistan for past 20 years.
Despite growing passenger volume, 11 out of 14 carriers reported losses in 2023-24. IndiGo recorded profit of Rs 8,167 crore, which reduced to Rs 7.253 crore in 2024-25.
Of the total package, $649 million will be utilised for additional hardware, software, and support services, and the remaining for Major Defence Equipment (MDE).
None of Pakistan’s PMs has lasted 5 years. That the current PM has given Asim Munir 5 years shows that of all military dictatorships history has seen, Pakistan’s is most creative.
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