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Temstar

Temstar

Brigadier
Registered Member
Ugh:
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The surveillance balloon effort, which has operated for several years partly out of Hainan province off China’s south coast, has collected information on military assets in countries and areas of emerging strategic interest to China including Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, according to several U.S. officials, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
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Analysts think the balloons, like drones, can be remotely piloted — at about 30 to 60 mph, said one official. And because balloons float along high-altitude winds, their paths are less predictable and thus more difficult to track. The balloons are also much cheaper to produce and launch than space-based satellites.
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How would this work? PLAAF is now in control of wind globally? Might as well surrender then.
 
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9dashline

9dashline

Captain
Registered Member
ACuriousPLAFan said:
She should be careful not to let the balloon fly away. If not, the balloon can really dogfight an F-22 this time.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1622887776046788608
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Reality is stranger than fiction, back in 1997 when this F-22 sim first came out aint nobody would have believed a quarter of a century later the only real op the F-22 ever did was Operation Balloon Strike...

Almost makes me want to write to the publisher to ask for my money back, I feel defrauded, this game was a grotesque misrepresentation of what the F-22 actually set out to accomplish

$20 bucks in 1997 money is nearly $200 bucks today

Highland_mission_selection.jpg
 
L

luminary

Senior Member
Registered Member
Looks like Kim is a proper family man now:
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1675833017465.png
SEOUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for strengthening the country's military, state media reported on Wednesday, as he paid tribute to soldiers and met with troops amid expectations for a major military parade showcasing the latest weapons.

Kim attended a banquet with his wife and daughter on Tuesday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army, state media reported.

"For the strengthening and development of our armed forces, let us all double our efforts and do more for the prosperous development of the socialist motherland," he said during a speech at the banquet, according to state news agency KCNA.

The remarks came a day after he pledged to
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and beef up the nuclear-armed country's war readiness posture.
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Sardaukar20

Sardaukar20

Captain
Registered Member
ACuriousPLAFan said:
Other than China, the US is also exploring ways to deploy munitions and drones from high-altitude balloons in the warzones:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1622697096985071617

Imagine in times of war, China release tens or hundreds of these balloons and have them float to be near/over enemy-held territories, and have them release Shahed-like loitering munitions/kamikaze drones towards their designated targets below using swarming drone tactics. That's going be a sight to behold...

Now that we know the usefulness of high-altitude balloons (and high-altitude loitering UAVs in general) for national defense, including for offensive (launching munitions) and non-offensive (ISR) usages, I do expect that major powers would be looking into ways to deploying and countering these high-altitude balloon-based military platforms.

Recall that the US tested an airborne laser weapon system mounted onboard a modified Boeing 747 in the 2000s, i.e. Boeing YAL-1:
View attachment 106794
The laser was mounted at the nose of the aircraft. The laser platform's purpose is to become an airborne missile defense system to destroy tactical ballistic missiles at boost phase.
View attachment 106795
However, due to the high costs incured by the program and the impracticality due to the need for the platform to fly inside enemy territory to intercept enemy ballistic missiles, this project was eventually shelved in 2011.

Meanwhile, I think it's time for China to come up with solutions that can effectively deal with these kinds of threats at affordable costs.

As of now, both the US and China are already well in progress of developing newer airborne lasers that can be mounted on current and next-generation warplanes in the future, including both combat and non-combat warplanes.
View attachment 106799
In fact, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman have jointly delivered a high-energy laser weapon (LANCE) that can be carried by aircraft in podded form to the USAF for testing and evaluation in July last year:
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Of course, this airborne laser weapon should be useful for not just intercepting enemy AAMs and SAMs, but also target enemy warplanes and drones in the future. In retrospect, military-purposed high-altitude balloons and high-altitude loitering UAVs in general can be targeted as well, such as this high-altitude loitering UAV airship:
View attachment 106800

As a sidenote, the famous PLA military hardware 3d-modeller @大包CG on Weibo made this Chinese counterpart to the Boeing YAL-1 by mounting an airborne laser system on a Y-20 to mock the panicking Americans:
View attachment 106801
View attachment 106802
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I kinda admit that the weaponizing the balloon for modern warfare looks very tempting. Using a balloon does offer a very unique opportunity to put HGVs at very high altitudes with extremely minimal costs. The balloon does not even need to maneuver to the target, it can be floating hundreds, or thousands of kilometers away from the target. Upon release, the HGVs can glide themselves onto the target. So no need for ballistic missiles or jets to put them at very high altitudes in the first place.

The balloon can also carry radars, sensors, and EW suites at very high altitudes. So there are some other potential uses there too.

Nevertheless, the biggest drawback for using balloons is it's very slow speed and limited steering ability. So I also see potential for the balloon to be used as a cheap decoy and terror weapon against American forces. Especially when they are aware that there is a variant that can drop HGVs onto them. Let them burn fuel and missiles onto balloons instead of more valuable assets.
 
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