Britain considers buying fleet of spy balloons

The UK is looking at ‘balloon-based’ surveillance systems that can remain in the stratosphere for longer because of lack of turbulence.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina in February. Picture: Reuters.

Britain is looking at buying a fleet of spy balloons that can float at high altitudes over hostile states.

Ministers signed a £100m research deal last year with an American company to develop “stratospheric uncrewed air systems”.

The technology is being developed for the Ministry of Defence as part of Project Aether, named after the Greek god of the sky. The surveillance balloons fly at between 50,000ft and 80,000ft so are less likely to be troubled by turbulence.

After test flights that took place in Arizona in the autumn, the ministry has confirmed it is interested in buying “balloon-based” capability.

In the latest issue of desider, a magazine produced by the MoD’s procurement division, one of those involved in the project said Britain was likely to invest in a range of capabilities that included balloons and drones.

Ross Corbett, who works in the Defence Equipment and Support Future Capability Group, said the lower levels of turbulence in the stratosphere allowed reconnaissance platforms to float more steadily above a target.

“Successfully exploiting this space could mean huge potential benefits, but there’s still a lot left for us to learn about how to operate there, especially for long periods of time,” he said.

“Our theory is the turbulence we’ve all experienced in aircraft cruising at 40,000ft doesn’t exist to the same degree in the stratosphere. If that’s right, we could send up really light aircraft for long periods of time, without worrying about them being battered by turbulent air. This could be a layer of the atmosphere with, we think, little traffic or weather”.

Mr Corbett said the ministry was looking at “balloon-based” and “fixed-wing systems” because it would be better to have “a range of capabilities” that included “platforms that loiter in the stratosphere for longer periods of time” and others that can stay there “for shorter fixed durations”.

In October, Sierra Nevada Corporation, the American company working on the program, carried out a successful trial of a balloon that took off from Page, Arizona, before drifting northeast across cities in several other states. The next balloon trial, to take place later in the year, will feature a 60-day flight.

Balloons have been used in warfare since the Napoleonic era, but they fell out of favour after winged aircraft were invented. However, there is renewed interest in their capabilities after a Chinese spy balloon was seen flying over sensitive sites in the United States last month. The balloon, which appeared to be powered by solar panels and had antennae said to allow it to intercept sensitive communications, was detected over nuclear missile silos in Montana. It was shot down by a fighter jet as it drifted over the Atlantic.

Beijing has said the balloon was a weather-monitoring device that had been blown off course. Three other balloons discovered over North America were also shot down, but were found to have no links to the Chinese military.

After the incident, the US accused China of using balloons to conduct a surveillance program spanning 40 countries on five continents. A senior American defence source said an investigation had uncovered evidence of 10 previous spying operations from similar platforms over North, South and Central America in recent years.

The US has its own spy balloons and runs Cold Star, a classified Covert Long-Dwell Stratospheric Architecture, that tested 25 inflatables in South Dakota in 2019.

The MoD said: “We keep our capabilities under review and while assessment activity [continues] it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

The Times