The United States military (US) sought the remaining balloon of Chinese spy which had just been shot down after being detected on the air for days in the US region. This incident triggered a new tension between the US and China, which was deteriorating. What is the spy balloon?
As reported by Reuters on Monday (6/2/2023), the Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, General Glen Vanherck, said the US Navy was looking for debris or the rest of the spy balloons and its cargo.
China insisted the white ball that was floating across the United States last week was a weather balloon that was carried by the wind, while officials in Washington said the balloon was a spy tool used by Beijing to oversee sensitive areas.
So, what is the role of technology that seems ancient in modern espionage? In the current satellite era, surveillance balloons - which are usually equipped with high -tech imaging equipment that leads to the bottom, apparently offers short -range monitoring.
IAIN Boyd, Professor of Dirgantara Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, said such balloons were sometimes allowed to fly and roam to follow the weather patterns but could be equipped with guide equipment to control the path.
Balloons that fly lower, floating at the same height as the aircraft, can usually take more clear pictures than satellites. That's because the satellite is very fast, which completes one orbit in 90 minutes.
Other types of satellites can rotate in harmony with the earth, allowing it to take images continuously from one location. But according to Boyd, such satellites orbits further and usually produce less clear images.
Quoted by us from Al Jazeera, surveillance balloons can also collect electronic signals and intercept communication, according to David Deroches, professor at the Center for Strategic Study of East Asia at the National Defense University in Washington, DC.
He said, Chinese spy balloons that were shot down by the US could also be used to gather information about what type of signal used by the US to track it, so that it might be able to identify and classify the radar.