Chinese Ballon flies above Pentagon. US Military intervened: Remours of war echo throughout the globe.
On February 5, 2023 by Garima PandeyChinese Ballon flies above Pentagon. US Military intervened: Remours of war echo throughout the globe.
The use of such spy balloons is not new. Spy balloons were first used at the Battle of Fleurus in
1794 against Austrian and Dutch troops during the French Revolution. They were also used
during the American Civil War in the 1860s. Such balloons were widely used by the US and the
Soviet Union during the Cold War. Then it was a low-cost way of gathering intelligence. Their use has been going on since the Second World War. The Japanese army tried to bomb the
American territory through these balloons. Although their limited control capabilities did not
cause much damage to US military targets, some bombs did fall into residential areas, resulting
in the loss of many civilian lives. The surprising thing is that this spy balloon kept flying in the
American continent for so many days without being detected. The first disclosure about it came when it reached Montana, a state with an essential base of the US Air Force. In a hurry,
the Ministry of Defense issued a notice to China regarding this. Later, the Foreign Ministry of
China accepted that this is one of their passenger airships, which is used for research.
Especially for collecting weather-related information. China says the balloon apparently lost its
way due to westerly winds and limited self-driving capability. These balloons can easily fly at an
altitude of 24 thousand to 37 thousand feet from the ground, while this Chinese balloon is
currently flying at an altitude of 60 thousand feet above America. Due to this, it is very difficult to monitor them from the ground. This range of their flying is much more than commercial aircraft. Most commercial aircraft do not go above 40,000 feet. Only fighter jets have the ability to fly at such a range, which can go up to 65 thousand feet. However, some more spy planes like the U-2 can fly up to an altitude of 80,000 feet according to balloon expert William Kim, the first Chinese balloon looks similar to a normal weather balloon with different features. It has massive payloads and solar panels to collect information and is being operated through this. He told that seeing this balloon shows that it has advanced steering techniques. This balloon can be moved from one place to another through artificial intelligence. It gets out of radar’s grip and helps in espionage the balloon is not as easy as it seems. You can’t just shoot it. Helium is used in this and after shooting it goes up. Even if you make a hole in it, its gas comes out very slowly. He said that in 1998, a similar balloon was shot down by the Canadian Air Force with F-18 fighter jets, even after which it took six days for the balloon to come down. He told that these are not such things which explode easily. However, he said it was not yet clear whether surface-to-air missiles would work on it. The US rejected China’s claim that it was not being used for surveillance. Ryder declined to provide further details on where exactly the balloon is and whether there are any plans to shoot it down. The US military ruled out the option of shooting down the balloon. The rider said that it is at an altitude of about 60,000 feet and there is no danger from it. Earlier they had said that only one balloon had been sighted.
