Report: Chinese spy balloon gathered intel, transmitted it to Beijing in real time

The Chinese balloon that was shot down by the US military on Feb 4 this year was able to gather intelligence from several U.S. military sites and transmit it back to Beijing in real time, Hindustan Times reported, quoting the NBC News on Monday.

The balloon controlled by Beijing triggered security concerns for the US and it was able to transmit the information despite Biden admin's efforts to stop it from doing so, the report further said.

Citing senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official, the report said that the high-altitude balloon was able to make multiple passes over some of the sites, sometimes flying in a figure-eight formation.

It collected intel mostly on electronic signals. Electronic signals can be picked up from weapons systems, NBC cited the officials as saying.

However, the report further said the there were no immediate comment from U.S. officials on the report.