The value of that persistence is illustrated by not just the balloons crossing over U.S. In 2020, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission concluded that the PLA envisions an overlapping network of satellites and near-space aerostats to provide redundant and persistent intelligence and targeting capabilities. It also encouraged participants to track aerostat developments internationally. The main theme of the conference was “innovation, development, exchange, and cooperation” with the clearly military goal of deploying aerostats for “early warning, command and communication, and anti-submarine activities.” The conference was particularly interested in topics such as how to increase aerostat payloads, improve energy efficiency, and aerodynamics. The event was held at China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University, one of China’s “Seven Sons of National Defense” with extensive ties to the PLA and defense industry. It drew a wide range of participants, including Beihang University (another one of the Seven Sons, and the home of an aerostat company recently sanctioned by the Biden administration), the Chinese Aeronautical Society, and the PLA Air Force Equipment Research Institute. Two years later, a seminal conference further illuminated Beijing’s visions for aerostat development. Their modern applications have been noted as far back as 2010, when the National Air and Space Intelligence Center reported that China considered aerostats desirable for their large surveillance area between 1,000 and 2,000 km, low radar profile, ability to persistently loiter above desirable locations, and for their relatively inexpensive operating costs. They hold numerous advantages in persistence and cost, and thus many of the Chinese organizations that produce them are directly funded by China’s military industry.Ĭhina’s interest in aerostats dates at least to the Mao era.
Chinese strategists and industry have worked for more than a decade on 21st-century applications of the 18th-century invention-with some assistance from the West.Īerostats-the word encompasses powered airships (“blimps”) as well as unpowered balloons-have long been associated with military applications, particularly information-gathering activities. China’s high-altitude spy balloons took Western politicians and publics by surprise, but they really shouldn’t have.
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