Balloongate: The United States Also Has Spy Balloons
Some of them might even be used against China and Russia
So the U.S. has finally shot down China’s spy balloon over the Atlantic. The discovery of that balloon in the upper atmosphere above North America prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to Beijing this week. Under the circumstances, Blinken’s reaction is far from unusual; the Chinese government would surely have done the same.
But what stands out from the news is that Washington’s politicos are the “good guys” of the story, while China represents evil. Our hatred for the Communist Chinese Party and its thugs should not make us forget that the U.S. also spies on other nations, including China. And perhaps soon with the help of balloons.
The Return of Spy Balloons
During the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force launched hundreds of spy balloons in order to photograph sensitive sites in the Soviet Union. Project Moby Dick was apparently the Pentagon’s top priority at the time, along with the hydrogen bomb. “Through trial and error, [the U.S. Air Force] discovered that tropospheric jet streams meander west to east, meaning that balloons released from Western Europe would hypothetically fly over the USSR toward U.S. military bases in Japan”, Atlas Obscura wrote.
But then came the reconnaissance satellites and later the drones, which, it was thought, put an end to the balloons era. But those seem to be back on track. On August 2, 2019, The Guardian reported that the Pentagon was “conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six Midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons.”
Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons were launched from rural South Dakota to hover over an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois, as part of the Covert Long-Dwell Stratospheric Architecture (COLD STAR) project. Traveling in the stratosphere at altitudes of up to 65,000 feet, the balloons were designed to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotics trafficking and homeland security threats.”
While planes require expensive crews and can only fly for a few hours at a time, balloons can track individuals and vehicles day or night, through any kind of weather. And what is very convenient for military authorities is that the said balloons are subject to fewer restrictions and regulations than drones.
Now, the COLD STAR project and its balloons were only intended for domestic surveillance purposes. But it didn’t take long before the Pentagon expand the use of those huge flying snowballs.
Spying on China and Russia
In July 2022, Politico had a scoop that flew under the radar: spy balloons, it was said, were “added to the Pentagon’s extensive surveillance network and could eventually be used” against China and Russia to track hypersonic weapons. The Pentagon had been taken by surprise when China had carried out tests using hypersonic missiles in August 2021.
The Defense Department had until then spent about $3.8 million on projects involving balloons and was planning to spend a further $27.1 million in that field.
This means that the COLD STAR project was extended to military surveillance. But that’s not all: “The Pentagon is conducting demonstrations to evaluate how to incorporate high-altitude balloons and commercial satellites in an attack”, Politico reported.
Wouldn’t it be a curious coincidence if China, in the near future, shot down an American balloon?
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