we re going to bring back our graphic for this part. flying a spy plane lower in the atmosphere would be seen as an aggressive act and much more deliberate than just releasing a balloon into the wind. and meanwhile, a satellite up in space is not seen as such a problem. but balloons are in a kind of grey area in between and harder to spot. they also pose particular challenges to the military in working out how to take them down. i suspect there s probably a desire to find a way to deflate any potential future ambitions for using these things on a larger scale. excuse the horrible pun. professorjustin bronk is the senior research fellow for air power and technology in the military sciences team at rusi, a think tank. justin, how does the military deal with balloons? i mean, how do theyjudge whether they re a threat or not? it s a difficult one. so, in terms of dealing with them, first of all. there s the immediate
belonged to, us officials say, is run by the people s liberation army, and it s been running for years, with at least three balloons over us airspace during the previous trump administration. but both the us and china may have been keeping quiet about what was going on. that s normal for espionage, but now everyone is looking for these balloons. i want people to know that we ll do whatever it takes to keep the country safe. we have something called the quick reaction alert force, which involves typhoon planes which are kept on 24/7 readiness to police our airspace, which is incredibly important. so, what are the challenges in dealing with these balloons? we re going to bring back our graphic for this part. flying a spy plane lower in the atmosphere would be seen as an aggressive act and much more deliberate than just releasing a balloon into the wind. and meanwhile, a satellite up in space is not seen as such a problem. but balloons are in a kind of grey area in between
and meanwhile, a satellite up in space is not seen as such a problem. but balloons are in a kind of grey area in between and harder to spot. they also pose particular challenges to the military in working out how to take them down. i suspect there s probably a desire to find a way to deflate any potential future ambitions for using these things on a larger scale, excuse the horrible pun. professorjustin bronk is the senior research fellow for air power and technology in the military sciences team at rusi, a think tank. justin, how does the military deal with balloons? i mean, how do theyjudge whether they re a threat or not? it s a difficult one. so in terms of dealing with them, first of all, there s the immediate question of what altitude are they at and what speed are they drifting at, because the primary means for militaries to detect flying objects is radar. and radar works essentially by bouncing energy off objects and reading the returns.
and also collecting signals, because they re in the atmosphere rather than in space. the chinese programme which the first spy balloon belonged to, us officials say, is run by the people s liberation army, and it s been running for years, with at least three balloons over us airspace during the previous trump administration. but both the us and china may have been keeping quiet about what was going on. that s normal for espionage, but now everyone is looking for these balloons. i want people to know that we ll do whatever it takes to keep the country safe. we have something called the quick reaction alert force, which involves typhoon planes which are kept on 24/7 readiness to police our airspace, which is incredibly important. so, what are the challenges in dealing with these balloons? we re going to bring back our graphic for this part. flying a spy plane lower in the atmosphere would be seen as an aggressive act and much more deliberate than just releasing a balloon into the wind. a
we have something called the quick reaction alert force, which involves typhoon planes which are kept on 24/7 readiness to police our airspace, which is incredibly important. so what are the challenges in dealing with these balloons? so, what are the challenges in dealing with these balloons? we re going to bring back our graphic for this part. flying a spy plane lower in the atmosphere would be seen as an aggressive act and much more deliberate than just releasing a balloon into the wind. and meanwhile, a satellite up in space is not seen as such a problem. but balloons are in a kind of grey area in between and harder to spot. they also pose particular challenges to the military in working out how to take them down. i suspect there s probably a desire to find a way to deflate any potential future ambitions for using these things on a larger scale, excuse the horrible pun. professorjustin bronk is the senior research fellow for air power and technology in the military