On Tuesday, February 7, it was stated by Japan's Ministry of Defense that the United States is not ready to deploy a variety of new missiles in Japan, contrary to a recent newspaper report. The U.S. is developing new missiles but it’s too early to consider where to deploy them, Japanese officials were told by their U.S. counterparts, according to a ministry statement.

Also on Tuesday, a senior American military officer notified lawmakers in January that China has more land-based fixed and mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launchers than the US, according to a letter sent to Congress. The letter from Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander of US Strategic Command which oversees the US nuclear arsenal says that as of October 2022 China’s inventory of land-based fixed and mobile ICBM launchers “exceeds the number of ICBM launchers in the United States.” The letter also says that China’s does not have more ICBMs or nuclear warheads than the US.

On Wednesday, February 8, Moscow and Tehran decided that they are moving ahead with plans to build a new factory in Russia that could make at least 6,000 Iranian-designed drones for the war in Ukraine, the latest sign of deepening cooperation between the two nations, said officials from a country aligned with the U.S. As part of their emerging military alliance, the officials said, a high-level Iranian delegation flew to Russia in early January to visit the planned site for the factory and hammer out details to get the project up-and-running. The two countries are aiming to build a faster drone that could pose new challenges for Ukrainian air defenses, the officials said.

On Thursday, February 9, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Chinese spy balloon flew a route that took it past ballistic missile fields and a B-2 stealth bomber base. But he said the Pentagon took steps to protect “strategic assets” — the U.S. nuclear force — from the balloon’s surveillance. “All of our strategic assets — we were, made sure that we were buttoned down and movement was limited and communications were limited so that we didn’t expose any capability unnecessarily,” Austin told CBS News, speaking publicly for the first time since the U.S. shot the balloon down Saturday over the Atlantic.

On Friday, February 10, the Pentagon had not released many details of the other balloons, but the one that was spotted over Montana on Feb. 1 was 200 feet tall and carried a payload of sensors and other equipment comparable to a small passenger jet. That balloon sparked a crisis after it lingered near sensitive U.S. nuclear missile sights before wafting over the middle of the continental U.S. and drifting out to sea off of South Carolina, where it was shot down by an Air Force F-22 stealth fighter jet. While the U.S. is still working to determine how and why previous balloons escaped detection, experts say it may partly have to do with difficulties picking up inflatable airships on existing radar.

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