U.S. will track Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles with balloons
July 6, 2022
https://gagadget.com/en/war/144119-us-will-track-russian-and-chinese-hypersonic-missiles-with-balloons/
A new initiative of the United States Department of Defense involves the use of inflatable vehicles that will fly at an altitude of 18-27.5 km. The balloons will be part of a larger network to monitor hypersonic weapon launches.
You may think this idea is ridiculous and pointless, but the Pentagon has spent nearly $4 billion on balloon projects in the past two years. In 2023, the Defense Department intends to invest more than $27 million in similar projects.
$2 Billion was previously spent on another balloon project (described below), one that didn't work:
U.S. military’s newest weapon against China and Russia: Hot air
07/05/2022
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/05/u-s-militarys-newest-weapon-against-china-and-russia-hot-air-00043860
In the mid-2010s, the Army was investing in a spy blimp program that it ultimately canceled in 2017. The effort is known as the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS.
The blimp was tethered, unlike the high-altitude balloons, and designed to track boats, ground vehicles, drones and cruise missiles. The balloons DoD is using now are smaller, lighter and can fly considerably higher than the spy blimp.
Starting in 2015, the Army conducted a three-year exercise to determine whether to keep buying JLENS blimps from Raytheon. But the blimp broke free from its mooring station near Baltimore, flying for three hours and eventually landing near Moreland Township, Penn.
The Army decided to drop the program. JLENS cost nearly $2 billion to develop and was designed to deploy in U.S. Central Command.
