World / America chinese spy ballon joe biden government shoot sensor payload

Brisbane. Over the past week, the US has realized and uncovered that an active fleet of Chinese spy balloons has been operating in the northern hemisphere for several years. It all came into the open when a Chinese balloon, some 60 meters high and carrying a sensor payload of over a ton, was spotted by people in offices and homes in Billings, Montana. This white balloon, prominently visible in the bright blue sky, is being described as another moon.

There is continuous development in these stories. After being shot down off the South Carolina coast, three more similar objects were found in northern Alaska, Canada's Yukon Territory and one in the Great Lakes. All three were flying within regional air limits. The nature and origin of these objects is still unclear. US officials say the objects were not malfunctioning or communicating. There is no sign of aliens or extraterrestrial activity in these.

The downing of all four was the first in the history of the US-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command, which was originally established in the early days of the Cold War. In the background, it was understood that another large Chinese spy balloon was flying over Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela.

a purposeful program

The first balloon has already had many impacts. This canceled the planned visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing, which was highly anticipated. A minor domestic uproar ensued as Republicans accused the Biden administration of being too soft on China for not immediately shooting down the balloon. Congress voted 419-0 to condemn 'the Chinese Communist Party's use of surveillance balloons as a flagrant violation of US sovereignty'.

Finally, the US blacklisted a Chinese research institute and five aviation and defense companies, preventing them from accessing US technology. The implication is that equipment recovered from the wreckage of the first balloon showed that blacklisted organizations were involved in its making. As new facts emerge every day, they show that China's spy balloon program is purposeful, well-planned, well-funded and ongoing.

It was not the limited activity of a few independent Chinese groups, but a highly organized military activity, at least partly conducted from Hainan Island along the South China Sea. This program is likely to continue, with a major focus on electronic surveillance, specifically mapping civilian and military communications networks of other countries, possibly to aid in surveillance and subsequent potential intrusion.

The Pentagon said that Chinese balloons have been seen in Latin America, South America, Southeast Asia, East Asia and Europe over the past several years. Global wind patterns mean that these operations are likely to be limited to the northern hemisphere unless the balloons are launched from Chinese naval ships.

hunter balloons

To detect and shoot down such balloons requires a well-organized national air defense system, which most countries do not have. Nevertheless, the sudden shooting down of three more objects shortly after the first suggestion may have provided the US with vital intelligence as it tracked the first balloon as it flew across the US. The first balloon was sending data back to China via a wireless link.

This link can generally be used throughout the program. Knowledge of the technical characteristics of this link would have helped the US locate and track other balloons. The US is sharing its newly acquired intelligence about the balloons with its allies, partners and friends. This will help others to counter Chinese spy balloons over their countries.

a growing trend

This has some implications for international relations. First, the Chinese Communist Party is doing this to irritate other countries. Much of what the spy balloons are doing could be easily done by surveillance satellites, of which China has about 260 in orbit. In contrast, balloons are inherently inflammatory. The response of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and party mouthpiece Global Times has been to deny and confuse, complaining about the US shooting down the first balloon and claiming that the US had carried out several similar attacks in Chinese airspace. Balloons have been sent.