Before an An Air Force F-22 Raptor fired an AIM-9X missile and shot down the Chinese spy balloon that had floated all over the continental US and the political landscape, at least three others had surveilled America during the Trump administration. We didn’t hear about them because … well, spies, you know. Also, some flew over Hawaii and Guam, which many Americans don’t think of as, um, American. And last week, another Chinese spy balloon seen over Latin America was ignored by the chattering classes.
If you were wondering, spies use balloons because they are cheaper than spy satellites, spend longer over targets, and can detect things satellites can’t, like the U.S. military’s very low frequency (VLF) radio transmissions.
So why doesn’t the U.S. intelligence community use stratospheric balloons? It does. It even used them to spy on Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Illinois. The DARPA defense research agency tested Adaptable Lighter Than Air (ALTA) balloons almost a decade ago. The Department of Defense budgeted $27.1 million for balloon development in FY 2023, and many of their aircraft are produced by Raven Aerostar.
Note: After publication, the Aerostar promo video was apparently edited to omit some military application details.
Update:
“Russia Also Has A Fleet Of Spy Balloons,” Piotr Butowski, The Drive
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