Tag: Airships

An Incomplete Report on US Military Activities in the South China Sea in 2022

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

An Incomplete Report on US Military Activities in the South China Sea in 2022

In 2022, alongside the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US military placed great emphasis on military deterrence against China in the South China Sea, maintaining high-intensity activities including close-in reconnaissance operations, Taiwan Strait transits, forward presence operations, strategic deterrence, freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs), military exercises and drills, and battlefield preparation.

An Incomplete Report on US Military Activities in the South China Sea in 2022 via SCSPI

China accuses U.S. of flying spy balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times + NSC Lies

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

China accuses U.S. of flying spy balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times

John Kirby, spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, said in a MSNBC interview on Monday that this claim was not true.


“Any claim that the US government operates surveillance balloons over the PRC is false. It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents,” wrote Adrienne Watson, another NSC spokesperson, on Twitter.

Previously:

U.S. military’s newest weapon against China and Russia: Hot air

The Pentagon is working on a new plan to rise above competition from China and Russia: balloons.

The high-altitude inflatables, flying at between 60,000 and 90,000 feet, would be added to the Pentagon’s extensive surveillance network and could eventually be used to track hypersonic weapons.

China’s suspected spy balloon had Western-made components with English writing on them, report says

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

China’s suspected spy balloon had Western-made components with English writing on them, report says

Related:

EXPLAINER -What we know and don’t know about the Chinese balloon

By looks and by size, it resembles balloons made by U.S. firm Aerostar, whose own balloon was mistaken for the Chinese one while flying over Memphis.

Aerostar is an aerospace and defence contractor that supplies stratospheric balloons to the likes of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made out of polyethylene film that can fly for over 200 days and carry hundreds of pounds.

It also previously had a deal with Google to use such balloons to provide internet to rural areas.

Other companies that develop stratospheric balloon systems include U.S. space tourism firm World View and French firm CNIM Air Space.

[2019] US military begins testing flying surveillance balloons across the country to TRACK people’s movements

Stratollites can maintain position over specific areas of interest for days, weeks, and eventually months on end. This allows for more sustained measurements and monitoring capabilities over a targeted area. Stratollites can carry a wide variety of commercial payloads (sensors, telescopes, communications arrays, etc.), launch rapidly on demand, and safely return payloads back to earth after mission completion.

Worldview Stratollites are commercial high altitude balloons like Google Loon – Worldview had an explosion December 2017

Manufacturing Consent: Pentagon Says Chinese Balloons Have Traveled Over the US Before

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Or just manufacture your own crisis with your own balloons!

Pentagon Says Chinese Balloons Have Traveled Over the US Before

The official said that Chinese balloons “transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.”

Fox News reported that at least one Chinese balloon flew over Florida and Texas during the Trump administration, but President Trump and former top officials in his administration strongly denied the claim.

Later, an unnamed senior Biden administration official claimed to Fox that the balloons that transited over the US during the Trump administration were only “discovered” after he left office. “They went undetected,” the administration official said.