The Americans and Canadians almost missed 4 spy balloons and this was because the PRC used the old methods for reconnaissance.
American politicians are dissatisfied with the fact that low-tech devices have managed to enter the airspace of the United States and Canada, despite the tens of billions of dollars spent on North America’s defense system. Now they plan to take a closer look at the budget and capabilities of the North American Aerospace Command, after briefing senators about the four unidentified flying object strikes, Defensenews.com reported.
According to Senator Susan Collins, the United States has some problems with airspace protection.
“If there are gaps caused by a lack of equipment, sensors, or more advanced radar, the Department of Defense is responsible to let us know. Although the three objects were dropped quickly, they responded slowly to the first object. Why?” she loved it.
After Biden ordered the shooting down of a (supposedly) Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States in early February, NORAD, the US-Canadian agency responsible for warning and defense of missile threats to North America, began to monitor potential air threats more closely. . Later, three more unidentified devices were discovered and dropped, with the last one being eliminated on February 12. Officials say this is due to the enhanced capabilities of NORAD’s radar gates, which can now detect small objects moving at low speeds at high altitudes.
However, US airspace monitoring technologies have not always been adapted to search for objects such as balloons. For example, it is known that Chinese blimps flew over the United States during the Trump presidency and were not immediately noticed. The thing is, the tools to raise awareness of such “old-fashioned” devices have not been used by America.
“We need systems that can deal with a slow-moving balloon, a hypersonic missile that travels 8 times faster than the speed of sound, and a low-flying cruise missile,” Senator Dan Sullivan commented.
NORAD actively uses the Northern Warning System, short- and long-range radars installed in northern Canada and Alaska. In the same place, there are several air force bases in the north. But the truth is, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in its 2022 report that the use of Cold War technology is outdated.
In June, the Canadian government announced it would invest $4.9 billion over the next 6 years to build a new surveillance system. These will be two over-the-horizon radars and a Crossbow sensor network spread over northern Canada.
“In the near term, we will expand NORAD’s capabilities with Canada by developing a new sensor system called the Crossbow that will enhance NORAD’s ability to detect incoming air threats,” said US Deputy Secretary of Defense Melissa Dalton.
Senator John Tester (D-Montana) said the 2024 budget should be increased to help the Pentagon prevent any attack on US airspace. The thing is, this is the first time a Chinese spy balloon has been seen over Montana, where several nuclear facilities are located. But Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee’s air and ground combat committee, believes unidentified objects like Chinese balloons should be shot down before they can enter the United States. For him, this is more important than investing in the modernization of NORAD.
“We don’t have to spend billions — possibly tens or even hundreds of billions — to change the way we protect our airspace from small, slow-moving objects,” Cotton said. “We have the ability to eliminate them.”
Regardless, none of the three objects hit over the weekend have been found so far. The military is trying to salvage the wreckage to better understand what the devices are. He said the balloons may not have posed a real threat to national security, but that is yet to be seen.
Among all the rumors about Chinese balls, there is one – “these are aliens.” American officials say this information is not true.
We have previously reported that Yury Kasyanov, a member of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, believes that balloons launched by the Russian Armed Forces should not be dropped in order not to reveal the location of the Armed Forces’ air defense systems.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.