“The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China’s south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.”
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
“In addition to the one recorded recently, at least four balloons have been sighted over Hawaii, Florida, Texas, and Guam in recent years.”
The Daily
Source:- https://www.ocregister.com/2023/02/06/chinese-spy-balloon-political-cartoons/
In recent years, rumours have emerged of the Chinese government is employing a new sort of surveillance technology: spy balloons. These high-altitude balloons are outfitted with sophisticated sensors and cameras and are used to collect data on a variety of targets, including military sites and other critical places.
What exactly are spy balloons?
Spy balloons are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can fly for lengthy periods of time at high altitudes. They are outfitted with a multitude of sensors and cameras, allowing them to collect a wealth of data and insight on their targets. The balloons are normally launched from a ground-based platform and are capable of flying autonomously for lengthy periods of time, collecting data, and transmitting it back to their ground-based handlers.
According to a media source, China has deployed a fleet of spy balloons targeting numerous countries, including India and Japan, just days after the US Navy shot down a Chinese surveillance craft flying over vital assets in the country. In accordance with declassified material published by the State Department on Thursday, the Chinese spy balloon was outfitted with an antenna capable of pinpointing the positions of communications devices and capturing calls made on those devices.
Source:- https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/china-spy-balloon-satellite-images-military-base-1234679705/
The balloon, which flew across America for several days, captivated the public and drew attention to the rising rivalry between China and the United States, both in Washington and across the country. Officials are still unsure what information the balloon was trying to steal as it travelled across the country.
The balloon had a signals intelligence array, which is fancy spy jargon for an antenna that can identify and listen into communications devices. Officials are unsure whether the array was designed to collect calls made on military radios, ordinary mobile phones, or something else. Many of the initial Chinese spy balloons seen near US military exercises or locations were not identified as surveillance devices. Instead, they were labelled as unidentified aerial phenomena, or U.F.O.s in modern-day Pentagon parlance.
Over the last 18 months, the US has learned more about China's surveillance balloon operation. Officials established that the mysterious aircraft phenomena were spy balloons after reviewing past occurrences of strange aerial phenomena. According to an examination of previous data, at least three spy balloons entered US airspace during the Trump administration. During the Biden administration, there was at least one additional visit.
The United States has informed its friends and allies, including India, about the discovery of the Chinese surveillance balloon, which was shot down by a fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman briefed officials from approximately 40 embassies in Washington on the situation on Monday.
According to a 2022 military intelligence assessment acquired by CNN, a balloon was spotted near Guam as early as 2019. A former government official who was examining anomalous aerial sightings by Navy pilots in recent years, some of which turned out to be balloons, reported a meeting several months ago in which a Defence officer "pulled out of his pocket a piece of a Chinese balloon with Chinese lettering on it."
"The point is, Chinese balloons are not new," the former official told CNN.
Source:- https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/03/chinese_surveillance_balloon_over_us/
The newest balloon's path was tracked by the US even before it entered US territory. According to CNN, the Defense Intelligence Agency informed the balloon was heading for the United States on January 27, one day before it entered the country over Alaska.
Officials stated that they believe the spy balloons identified by the US are part of a huge fleet conducting global surveillance operations on behalf of China's military, the People's Liberation Army. According to officials, the balloons have been traced to 40 nations across five continents.
The US Fleet Forces Command shared many photographs on Facebook of the balloon's debris being loaded into a boat. According to the NY Times article, the sailors who recovered the debris on Sunday were members of the Navy's elite explosives squad. According to US officials, the balloon was around 200 feet (60 metres) tall, with the payload part equal in size to regional airliners and carrying hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds.
The Pentagon announced that a second Chinese surveillance balloon had been sighted over Latin America, with reports of sightings across Costa Rica and Venezuela. Colombia's Air Force reports that an identifiable object, thought to be a balloon, was discovered above 55,000 feet in the country's airspace on 3 February. It claims it followed the object until it departed the airspace and that it posed no threat to national security.
China has constantly stated that the "airship is for civilian use and reached the US due to force majeure - it was absolutely an accident". The discovery of the balloon kicked up a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately cancelling off a weekend trip to China - the first such high level US-China meeting there in years - over the "irresponsible act".
During a normal press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that the unmanned Chinese civilian airship's entry into US airspace was solely due to "force majeure." In response to the White House's statement about suspected ‘spy balloons' being part of a PRC fleet of balloons developed to conduct surveillance operations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the US overreacted by using force and that the narrative is most likely part of Washington's information and public opinion warfare against China.
China's spy balloons are thought to be part of a larger Chinese government drive to improve its military and intelligence capabilities. The balloons are thought to be outfitted with modern cameras and sensors, allowing them to collect high-resolution photographs and data about their targets. They are also thought to be outfitted with GPS and other navigational technologies, allowing them to fly autonomously while correctly mapping and monitoring their targets.
Source:- https://news.usni.org/2023/02/04/3-navy-warships-fbi-now-hunting-for-wreckage-of-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina
The Chinese government's use of spy balloons has alarmed some experts, who warn that this new technology poses a substantial threat to national security. The balloons can collect sensitive information about military sites, important infrastructure, and other strategic places, which could be used to inform future military actions or jeopardise the security of these targets.
Furthermore, the balloons can fly at high altitudes, making them difficult to detect and intercept. This implies they can be deployed to gather intelligence on targets while remaining undetected, giving the Chinese government a considerable advantage in future battles.
The Chinese government's employment of spy balloons is a recent trend that has some academics concerned about the consequences for national security. The balloons can collect sensitive information about military sites, important infrastructure, and other strategic places, which could be used to inform future military actions or jeopardise the security of these targets.
As the use of spy balloons grows, governments and military organisations will need to create tactics to identify and defend against this new threat.
Article by:- Natasha
Edited by:- Shree Nidhi
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