Airships at the heart of China’s military observation strategy. CNN has just revealed satellite images taken by satellite data company BlackSky showing a next-generation model of the aircraft at the Korla base in the Xinjiang desert. At this site, created in 2009, Beijing tests missiles, anti-missile and anti-satellite systems.
According to the American journalist Alex Marquardt -who obtained these images taken in November 2022-, the aircraft we see is a very particular model. At more than 100 feet long, the aerostat is far more sophisticated than the one that flew over the United States in February before being shot down by the US Air Force, according to the US weapons specialist. CNN.
Rudimentary but discreet devices
In the BlackSky images, we see next to the aircraft, a hangar 260 meters long and 140 meters wide that could house others, he explains to Quartz Sean O’Connor, Janes’ senior satellite imagery analyst.
If on the surface, aircraft may seem rudimentary, even archaic, in reality they display assets in terms of espionage that neither planes nor satellites offer. They are inexpensive, do not require any infrastructure to launch, and can be placed high above a sensitive site to observe.
An “international” space
These balloons fly freely and legally between the airspace and the Kármán line (100 kilometers above sea level), two regulated environments. This “international” zone in which the weather balloons are located allows them to circulate without authorization above the States, as long as the passage is innocuous.
During the US flyby of the Chinese airship earlier in the year, Beijing had also portrayed it as civilian infrastructure blown off course. The balloon was shot down at an altitude of 18 kilometers, effectively violating US airspace and international law, explained Patrick Ryder, communications manager. of the Department of Defense. The images revealed by CNN are, therefore, prior to this episode of the “balloon”.
A European airship program
China still denies a spying mission and a deliberate overflight of sensitive sites. Beijing claims that the unmanned civil aircraft accidentally veered off course and that the United States overreacted by shooting down a civilian aircraft. Satellite images published by CNN seem to confirm that these aerostats are in fact military devices designed for espionage purposes.
China is not the only state that uses aircraft for military purposes. The United States has similar programs. France is not left out. In 2016, the General Directorate of Armament (DGA) launched with Thales and Thales Alenia Space (TAS) the Stratobus project, a 140-meter-long stratospheric aircraft, inflated with helium and propelled by four electric motors.
This program, under the supervision of TAS with 21 partners and 18 subcontractors, from 11 countries, benefited in 2020 from financial assistance from the European Defense Fund (EDF). Initially, a demonstrator was scheduled for 2022, then 2023. Its first flight is finally scheduled for 2030.
Source: BFM TV
