: What China Might Have Been Up to With the Balloon Mission #WorldNEWS Many wonder whether the recent penetration of U. S. airspace by a Chinese surveillance balloon constitutes a so-called Sputnik

What China Might Have Been Up to With the Balloon Mission #WorldNEWS
Many wonder whether the recent penetration of U. S. airspace by a Chinese surveillance balloon constitutes a so-called Sputnik moment in U. S. –China relations. China blatantly violated U. S. sovereign territory and unlike the shadowy world of espionage, it did so in full view of the American public. The American public wants to know how and why—and Washington is coming up short on answers.
The first large balloon was a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) intelligence asset. It is unlikely the four other objects recently detected over North American air space are Chinese collection platforms. However, the Pentagon confirmed that on four previous occasions, Chinese spy balloons conducted missions over the U. S. The U. S. trained its RADAR systems to look for balloons and is now finding them.

So why balloons? Balloons are much cheaper than spacecraft to launch and operate. Unlike satellites, they can loiter over a specific ground target. Even countries with advanced RADAR systems have a difficult time detecting them depending on the materials used for the balloon and the size of the sensor array. Let’s explore several potential intelligence missions for China.
Messaging
China has a longstanding practice of communicating its political positions through military tests, exercises, diplomats, social media posts, state-owned media, businesses, think tanks, academics, and covert influence campaigns. This balloon flight, on the eve of a visit by the U. S. Secretary of State, could have been China’s effort to show strength. In Beijing’s mind, the balloon collection effort could have been a way of saying that they want friendship but are strong and will not bow down to the U. S.
Likely intelligence missions using balloons

Intercept High Frequency (HF) communications. The Chinese airship was likely capable of collecting and geolocating terrestrial based HF military communications. Militaries use secure HF communications to cross great distances. These signals bounce off the ionosphere, allowing them to move over the curve of the Earth. Other uses of HF frequencies include maritime and aeronautical communications, Shortwave broadcasting, and Ham radios.
Intercept downlink between satellites and ground station. To intercept communications from the military’s Wideband Global SATCOM geosynchronous satellites, one must be within the communications envelope between the satellite and the ground station. A balloon hovering in the upper atmosphere between a military base and a satellite could collect the communications between the two. Malmstrom Air Force Base, home to one of three operational ICBM wings is in Montana, where the Chinese balloon hovered for three days.