Spy Balloon: When Were They First Used and Why Did China Deploy Them Against US Now?

The Biden administration lauded the Pentagon for shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US Atlantic coast on Saturday, but China angrily voiced its “strong dissatisfaction" at the move and said it may make “necessary responses."

The craft spent several days flying over North America before it was targeted off the coast of the southeastern state of South Carolina with a missile fired from an F-22 plane, Pentagon officials said, falling into relatively shallow water just 47 feet (14 meters) deep, an AFP report said.

What is a Spy Balloon?

An observation balloon is a particular kind of balloon used as an airborne platform for spotting artillery and gathering intelligence. The usage of observation balloons started during the French Revolutionary Wars, peaked during World War I, and is still being used sparingly today.

When Were They First Used; Interesting Facts

High-altitude balloons have been used for surveillance and other military tasks since the middle of the past century. Some facts about them, as per a Reuters report:

• Using balloons made to float in jet stream air currents, the Japanese forces attempted to hoist incendiary bombs into American territory during World War 2. When one of the balloons landed in an Oregon woodland, three civilians were killed but no military targets were injured.
• The U.S. military began investigating the use of high-altitude spy balloons shortly after World War 2, which sparked a massive series of operations known as Project Genetrix. According to official records, the project flew photographic balloons throughout the area of the Soviet Union in the 1950s.

At What Altitude Do They Fly?

• Airliners hardly ever go higher than 40,000 feet, hence these balloons normally operate above 80,000-120,000 feet (24,000-37,000m), much above where commercial air traffic flies.
• Although spy planes like the U-2 have a service ceiling of 80,000 feet or higher, the best fighter aircraft normally do not fly above 65,000 feet.

But Why Use Them Now?

• According to a 2009 report to the U.S. Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College, the benefits of balloons over satellites include the ability to scan vast swaths of terrain from closer in and the ability to spend longer time over a target region.
• Also, these balloons can be launched for a lot less money than satellites, which need expensive space launchers.
• According to a 2005 research for the Air Force’s Airpower Research Institute, the balloons are not directly steered but can be generally guided to a target region by altering height to catch different wind currents.
• According to a senior U.S. defence official, the U.S. military has followed other surveillance balloons in previous years, including before President Joe Biden’s term.

Project Genetrix

The United States Air Force’s Project Genetrix, also known as WS-119L, was created to deploy surveillance balloons made by General Mills over communist China, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union in order to acquire aerial photos and gather intelligence. The Genetrix balloons were much higher than any modern fighter plane, flying at altitudes between 50,000 and 100,000 feet (15 and 30 kilometres).

516 high-altitude vehicles were launched from five separate launch sites between 10 January and 6 February 1956. Only 31 of the 54 retrieved objects offered useable pictures. Many balloons were shot down or blown off course, and the target nations lodged numerous diplomatic protests as a result of the flights.

Project Mogul

Another project by the US Army Air Force, Project Mogul involved microphones flown on high-altitude balloons with the main goal of detecting sound waves produced by Soviet atomic bomb tests at a distance.

The project was completed between 1947 and the beginning of 1949. It was a classified element of an unclassified project carried out by atmospheric experts at New York University (NYU).

A network of seismic detectors and air sampling for fallout, which were less expensive, more dependable, and simpler to instal and operate, replaced the initiative, which was only somewhat successful but very expensive.

What is the Current Case?

At President Joe Biden’s request, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and top military officials considered shooting the balloon down but decided doing so would endanger too many people on the ground, a senior defense official told reporters Thursday. “Clearly, the intent of this balloon is for surveillance," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

The official added that the balloon had flown over the northwest United States, where there are sensitive airbases and strategic nuclear missiles in underground silos, but that the Pentagon did not believe it constituted a particularly dangerous intelligence threat.

“We assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective," the official said.

The discovery of the aircraft came just days before an expected visit to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with managing heightened tensions between the two powers at the top of the agenda.

Blinken’s visit to Beijing, which follows a meeting last November between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit, will be the first trip to the Asian country by the United States’ top diplomat since 2018.

In addition to ongoing disputes over trade and intellectual property, relations between the two countries have frayed particularly over democratically-governed Taiwan, which China has pledged to reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The United States has been selling arms to Taiwan to defend itself, and Biden has said Washington would help protect Taiwan if China attacked. The defense official said that the balloon entered US airspace “a couple days ago," but that American intelligence had been tracking it well before that.

Austin, who was in the Philippines, held discussions Wednesday with top Pentagon officials after Biden asked about options for dealing with the balloon.

Fighter jets were flown to examine it while it was above Montana as discussions took place.

With inputs from AFP, Reuters

This report was first published on February 3, 2022.

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