Tag: High-altitude balloons

Lift off: Use of high-altitude platforms gain traction in US Army

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has for years experimented with high-altitude balloons and long-endurance, fixed-wing, solar-powered platforms capable of operating in the stratosphere. Now the service is pursuing prototyping efforts that could lead to programs of record, including one able to deploy launched effects.

Lift off: Use of high-altitude platforms gain traction in US Army

Related:

What The U.S. Army Plans For High-Altitude Balloons, Solar Aircraft

SMDC’s Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence actively works across the Pentagon to find high-altitude platforms, payloads and command-and-control capabilities for the service. This includes small, tactical balloons for payloads such as extended-range communications up to large, stratospheric balloons, according to a command fact sheet. In April 2022, for example, U.S. Army soldiers launched a Thunderhead High-Altitude Balloon System during exercise Balikatan 22 in the Philippines.*

*Flynn for balloons. Guess there is a different standard for the US gov?

US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Military says objects are thought to have landed in difficult terrain, after hobbyists suggested one could belong to them.

US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron

Most likely, we’ll never know if they really did shoot down a pico balloon. They’re too embarrassed.

Related:

Did an F-22 shoot down an Illinois hobby group’s small radio balloon?

A military spokesperson tells NPR it’s their understanding that the FBI has spoken to the hobbyist group in question — the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, based just north of Chicago — in an apparent attempt to determine whether their small balloon might have inadvertently caused a big ruckus.

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When the prediction showed K9YO-15 heading from Alaska over the Yukon, [Dan] Bowen said, “we really hoped it wouldn’t be intercepted. But we knew the moment that the intercept was reported, whose it was and which one it was.”

Asked if he believes the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s balloon was shot down, Bowen didn’t hesitate.

“Yes. Absolutely,” he said. “You know, I would say with 98% certainty.”

Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down By USAF

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source.
Source.

A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.

The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.

Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down By USAF

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

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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

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

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Screenshot from YouTube.

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

The tests were carried out by U.S. Southern Command, or Southcom, which is part of the Department of Defense and is responsible for intelligence operations, security cooperation and disaster response in Central and South America. It’s a joint effort by the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army and other forces whose main task is finding and intercepting drug shipments that are destined for the U.S. According to the Guardian, as many as 25 unmanned solar powered balloons were launched from rural South Dakota and made their way 250 miles across the neighboring states in tests.

Related:

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

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.

Some interesting ‘coincidences’:

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