Why balloons are now in public eye — and military crosshairs
The flurry of United States military activity surrounding the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) floating over the country in recent weeks brings balloon surveillance technology to the fore of commentary. It reveals that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has a high-altitude surveillance program and that the stratosphere is increasingly crowded.
At least in peacetime, high-altitude balloons make for cost-effective spying platforms. They can be difficult to detect if one is not looking for them, which accounts for the sudden flood of intelligence released by the United States indicating the years-long use of such balloons by the PLA. Now that their presence is known, the United States military and other defense organizations will ‘fine tune’ their monitoring and responses to high-altitude surveillance platforms.