CHINA: HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON DEVELOPMENT
Military and commercial entities in the PRC have been researching and developing high-altitude systems—including high altitude balloons—since at least the mid-2000s. PRC-based research institutions and companies have developed and tested high-altitude balloons as early as 2015, including payloads to support imaging, data relay, and communications capabilities. While some of this research may support civilian applications such as weather monitoring, many of these high-altitude systems are very likely intended to support PLA requirements. Chinese military publications have demonstrated interest in integrating “near-space” platforms as another layer in the PLA’s broader reconnaissance “system-of-systems,” and have highlighted the use of high-altitude systems to support various tracking and targeting missions. The high-altitude balloon shot down on February 4th, 2023, was developed as part of this broader military-linked aerial surveillance program.
CHINA: JANUARY 28TH TO FEBRUARY 4TH, 2023 HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON INTRUSION
On January 28th, 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense detected a high-altitude balloon (HAB) approaching U.S. airspace off the west coast of Alaska. According to a timeline reconstruction published in the New York Times that made use of commercial imagery, the balloon launched from Hainan Island in China on approximately January 15th. It traveled across the Pacific over the course of 13 days, before passing over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and then over the Alaskan mainland. The United States and Canada tracked the balloon as it crossed into Canadian airspace, where prevailing high-altitude winds blew it south, and it re-entered U.S. airspace over Idaho on January 31st. The Department of Defense tracked and monitored the balloon as it made its way across the United States and confirmed via handheld imagery from the pilot of a U-2 high-altitude surveillance aircraft that the balloon was indeed equipped with intelligence collection capabilities.
As stated by CDR NORAD & USNORTHCOM, the United States took precautions to minimize the amount and sensitivity of any intelligence the balloon could collect as it transited the United States. President Biden later confirmed and on June 29, DoD spokesmen reiterated that the balloon did not collect. On February 4th, U.S. fighters shot down the balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, and agents of the FBI conducted salvage and recovery operations.
For its part, China initially expressed “regret” that its airship entered North American airspace, but claimed that it was a purely civilian airship used for meteorological research, and that prevailing winds had blown off course. In slightly over a week, China’s tone changed, accusing the U.S. of flying surveillance balloons over China 10 times during 2022 (which the National Security Council denied), and claiming that the U.S. and NATO were attempting to “smear and accuse China,” likely reflecting a decision by China’s top leadership to respond by manufacturing a counter-narrative.
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
