US suspects China using spy balloons for surveillance
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon which has been flying over the United States, officials said yesterday.
The spy movielike intelligence collection method highlighted the lengths to which Beijing and Washington were willing to go to spy on each other amid increased tensions.
‘‘Clearly the intent of this balloon is for surveillance,’’ a senior US defence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said Washington had been tracking the balloon since it entered US airspace several days ago, including by observing it with manned US military aircraft.
Senior US military leaders considered shooting down the spy balloon over Montana but eventually recommended against it because of the potential safety risk from debris.
Canada’s defence ministry said yesterday it detected a ‘‘highaltitude surveillance balloon’’ and was monitoring a ‘‘potential second incident’’.
Using highaltitude balloons for spying and other military missions is a practice that dates to the middle of the last century. Here is what is known about how they operate.—
During World War 2, the Japanese tried to loft incendiary bombs into Allied territory using balloons designed to float in jet stream air currents. No military targets were damaged.
Just after World War 2, the
US military started exploring the use of highaltitude spy balloons, which led to a largescale series of missions called Project Genet. The project flew photographic balloons over Soviet bloc territory in the 1950s, according to government documents.
Such balloons typically operate at heights of 80,000120,000ft, well above where commercial air traffic flies — airliners hardly ever fly higher than 40,000ft. The highestperforming fighter aircraft typically do not fly above 65,000ft , although spy planes such as the U2 have a service ceiling of 80,000ft plus.
The advantages of balloons over satellites include the ability to scan wide swathes of territory from closer in, and to be able to spend more time over a target area, according to a 2009 report to the US Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College.
Unlike satellites, which require space launchers that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, balloons are able to be launched cheaply.
The balloons are not directly steered, but can be roughly guided to a target area by changing altitudes to catch different wind currents, according to a 2005 study for the Air Force’s Airpower Research Institute.
The US military has tracked other spy balloons in recent years, including before President Joe Biden’s administration, according to a senior US defence official. — Reuters