A spy balloon: Is it new and why is it creating news

The use of a spy balloon is not new and has been used since the days of the World War-II. What are the dangers and how does it work. Read on.....

New Delhi, Feb 03: A Chinese spy balloon was reported to be flying over the United States days ahead of a planned trip to Beijing by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

Reports said that the US Air Force had readied fighter jets to shoot the Chinese balloon off the sky, but US President Joe Biden was advised against it for the fear of debris.

The United States said that it took custody of the balloon as it entered its airspace and had observed it with piloted US military aircraft, an official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

"It is a Chinese high-altitude balloon and was flying over sensitive sites to gather information, a senior defence official told the Pentagon.

What are spy balloons:

The high-altitude balloons are similar to the weather balloons which are deployed across the world to monitor changes in the local weather in the respective regions. The purpose of the high-altitude spy balloons are however different and they are able to operate 24,000-37,000 meters above the ground.

The altitude at which these balloons fly is well above where the air-traffic flies. The airlines almost never fly higher than 40,000 feet.

A 2009 report by the US Air Force said the advantages of the balloons over satellites include the ability to scan wide swathes of territory from closer-in, and able to spend more time over a targeted area.

Balloons can be launched cheaply unlike satellites, which require space launchers which cost hundreds of millions of Dollars.

Is this a new practice:

The use of spy-balloons is not new and have been in use since the World War-II. It was the US which started exploring the use of high-altitude spy balloons, which led to a large-scale series of missions called the Project Genetrix. As part of this project the US flew photographic balloons over Soviet bloc territory in the 1950s.

During the World War-II, the Japanese military tried to lift incendiary bombs into US territory using balloons designed to float in jet stream air currents. This did cause civilian casualties, but did not damage military targets.

What are the Chinese spy balloons:

The Chinese spy balloons refer to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles or balloons by the Chinese government or military for intelligence gathering purposes. However there has been no substantial evidence to support these claims. However the use of these balloons is not limited to China and is common practise among many countries.