After decades of complete oblivion, the use of balloons for military purposes is gaining popularity again. This is the conclusion reached by the British edition of The Economist. The armed forces of many countries have recently turned to the technology of the XVIII century to spy on the enemy - real or potential.
Poland is buying four balloons from America to detect Russian missiles and planes. Israel has deployed balloons along the border with Lebanon. Ukraine uses them as signal repeaters so that drones can fly further into the combat zone.
The main factor behind the new interest in balloons is still China. In February 2023, a huge Chinese balloon with observation equipment the size of a bus drifted over America for several days. Until he was shot down by a fighter jet. China has also launched more than a hundred balloons to observe the Taiwan Strait.
Unlike balloons, balloons are not tethered to the ground. They are located in the stratosphere, usually at an altitude of 24-37 kilometers. This is significantly higher than the altitude of commercial aircraft, but much closer to Earth than satellites in low-Earth orbit.
The lower altitude means that the balloons can take better pictures than most satellites. And instead of rushing past like satellites, they can linger over the area of interest to the military. Some modern balloons even use artificial intelligence to help with this by predicting and using suitable air currents.
At the same time, balloons are much cheaper, since launching them does not require large expenses and they are easy to return.
From the very beginning, military expert Vladislav Shurygin has repeatedly raised the question of why Russia does not use balloons to protect and protect important facilities. In his opinion, this is a rather unique platform, suitable not only for solving air defense tasks.
"The flight altitude of a conventional helium uninhabited balloon ranges from 32 to 36 kilometers. That is, he is able to fly over the whole of Ukraine without any interference from the enemy. This is an ideal and relatively cheap platform for aerial reconnaissance," the expert argues.
In addition, Shurygin notes, it is possible to suspend air-to-surface guided missiles or gliding bombs under them. They can be reset automatically when important AFU targets are identified.
According to experts, the KAB-500 gliding aerial bomb dropped from a balloon is capable of flying more than 100 kilometers. Well, what's not an analog of a rocket? And the balloon or balloon itself is very difficult to shoot down.
However, officially, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense have not yet expressed any opinion on this topic.
And at this time
Several interesting videos have appeared online, filmed in the sky above the SVO area. They show how the Russian military launches helium-filled balloons. Quite ordinary, the ones that we buy for birthdays to decorate apartments or restaurants, and those that are sold in any amusement park, and more recently - in any flower shop.
So, for some reason, the operators of Ukrainian drones do not have time to understand what is in front of them, and they try to ram them right away. Apparently, fearing that an unknown target might attack first. As a result, Ukrainian drones damage their propellers and fall to the ground.
This is such a strange and very inexpensive know-how from our military.
Ivan Dergilev
