What is a Rumored Chinese Spy Balloon Doing Over the United States?

February 6, 2023 World Events & Announcements

A number of questions are raised by the report that the Pentagon is keeping an eye on a rumored Chinese spy balloon over the United States, not the least of which is what it might be accomplishing.

The balloon was initially sighted over Montana on Thursday. According to US officials, the balloon’s flight route may take it over “a number of sensitive facilities,” and they are taking precautions to “guard against foreign intelligence collection.”

Why Chinese spies would choose to utilize a balloon over a satellite to gather intelligence is less clear.

Although a Chinese balloon has been seen over the US before, this one appears to be performing differently than others, according to a US defense official.

This time, it seems to stay put for a longer period of time and to be more persistent than in the past. That would be a defining characteristic, the official said.

Spycraft no longer employ satellites
The use of balloons as spying platforms dates back to the early Cold War era. According to Peter Layton, a fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia and a former Royal Australian Air Force officer, the US has since used hundreds of them to keep tabs on its enemies.

However, the usage of surveillance balloons had become outmoded since the development of contemporary satellite technology, which allowed for the collection of overflight intelligence data from space.

or at least up to this point.

The floating intelligence platforms may be making a comeback in the arsenal of contemporary spies thanks to recent developments in electronics downsizing.

In comparison to satellites, Layton stated, “balloon payloads can now weigh less, and the balloons can be smaller, cheaper, and easier to launch.”

Even while balloons travel at modest speeds, according to Blake Herzinger of the American Enterprise Institute, they aren’t always simple to see.

Herzinger stated that because of their extremely low signature and little to zero emission, they are difficult to detect with conventional situational awareness or surveillance technologies.

Additionally, balloons have several capabilities that satellites lack.

Space-based systems are as effective, but they have more predictable orbital dynamics, according to Layton.

“One benefit of balloons is that, to a limited extent, they can travel up and down and can be controlled using onboard computers to take advantage of breezes. They can therefore only linger for a short time.

In order to maintain monitoring, he explained, “a satellite can’t loiter, therefore many are needed to criss-cross an area of interest.”

What could it be watching?
Layton asserts that the alleged Chinese balloon is probably gathering data on American radars and communication networks.

Some of these systems operate at extremely high frequencies that have a small range, are susceptible to atmospheric absorption, and are highly directional due to line-of-sight. “It’s possible that a balloon could serve as a more effective collection platform than a satellite for such specialized technical data collection,” he said.

CNN military commentator and retired US Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton shared those sentiments.

Leighton told CNN’s Erin Burnett that “they could be scooping up signals intelligence, in other words, they’re looking at our radio and cell phone activity.”

According to Layton, real-time transmission of the intelligence data gathered by the balloon back to China may be accomplished via a satellite link.

Analysts also pointed out that US strategic bomber sites and intercontinental ballistic missile silos are located in Montana and neighboring states.

According to US authorities, steps have been made to ensure that the balloon cannot capture any sensitive data. Due to the potential danger that falling debris posed to people and property, they chose not to fire it down.

Additionally, according to Layton, if the US could put the balloon down on US soil without killing it, the balloon might reveal some of its own secrets.

Perhaps there aren’t any secrets or spies involved, though. The balloon being blown off track or the Chinese controllers suddenly losing control of it might all just be accidents.

According to Herzinger, “there’s at least some chance that this was an error and the balloon got up somewhere Beijing didn’t expect.

China claims that it is investigating the matter.

A representative for the foreign ministry stated on Friday, “We are aware of reports [of the balloon] and are attempting to comprehend the circumstances and check the details of the incident. “I’d want to underline that any willful speculating or hyping up would not help resolving the problem until it becomes obvious what happened”.