Why in the news?
- The United States has accused China of flying a spy Balloon in its air space. The US defense department said it’s monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon floating over Montana, underscoring mutual suspicion between Washington and Beijing.
- The Chinese side has verified it and communicated it to the US. It is a civilian Airship used for research mainly meteorological processes affected by the westerlies and with Limited self-steering capability the Airship deviated far from its planned course.
What is a spy/surveillance balloon?
- During the French Revolutionary Wars in the late 18th century, balloons were used to provide a Bird’s eye view of the battlefield with there is documented evidence of their use in the battle of Fleurus in 1794.
- During World War 2, as Technologies evolved and Balloons could be posed at higher altitudes, their use evolved as well. For instance, the Japanese military tried to Loft incendiary bombs into US territory using balloons designed to float in jet stream air currents
How relevant are high-altitude balloons today?
- Unlike satellite switches that can cost millions of dollars to create and require sophisticated technology to launch, high-altitude balloons are cheap and easy to launch and control.
- Spy balloons have the advantage of being able to hover around at lower Heights, thus providing better quality images as well as more time together intelligence in a particular area
- While balloons cannot directly be steered, they can be roughly guided to a target area by changing altitudes to catch different wind currents
References:
https://byjus.com/physics/hot-air-balloon/
