Spy Aircraft That Were Also Said to Be ‘Weather Balloons’

• The US said a Chinese intelligence balloon is currently flying over the US.
• China says it was a weather balloon that went off course.
• This is not the first time a reconnaissance balloon has been described as a weather balloon.

China’s “weather balloons” claimed by Beijing are “off course“It’s not the first time that what appears to be a covert spy mission has been unplanned at one of the United States’ most important intercontinental ballistic missile sites.

It’s also not the first time the government has been asked to explain one of these adventures. China is probably just taking a page out of the US government’s cover-up plan for him in the 1960s.

according to project blue bookAmerica Air ForceA review of reports on unidentified flying objects (UFOs) from 1952 to 1969 found that most UFO sightings are either astronomical phenomena, satellites, aircraft or balloons. But Blue Book wasn’t entirely truthful about that answer. New York Times says.

And while Chinese balloons are definitely balloons, no doubt about that, there have been times when the “balloon” in question was definitely an aircraft.

1. U-2 Dragon Lady

of U-2 Dragon Lady made its first flight in 1955 with the CIA and the United States Air Force. This is the result of many years of work on developing an aircraft that can not only fly beyond the reach of Soviet anti-aircraft defenses, but also fly most interceptors.

For nearly a decade, the U-2’s ceiling above 70,000 feet was out of Soviet radar range.

It wasn’t completely invisible from the ground. Although the scope of Project Blue Book includes his U-2’s development timeline, the reconnaissance aircraft’s existence is not complete until May 1960, when pilot Francis Gary shot down his powers over the Soviet Union. was not disclosed in the

2. SR-71 Blackbird

The Air Force, the CIA, and Lockheed’s Advanced Development Program (also known as Skunk Works) believed it should be very fast if it wasn’t high enough to stop the Soviet Union from shooting down a top-secret spy plane. I was.

The SR-71 is designed to fly at 85,000 feet at Mach 3.3. If a surface-to-air missile happens to track it, the plane simply overtakes it.

Starting in 1957, Lockheed developed a series of airframes, culminating in a titanium aircraft (using titanium fraudulently obtained from the Soviet Union) that met all needs.

CIA says the Air Force knew Many of the UFO reports from its development were actually SR-71 test flights. President Lyndon B. Johnson declassified the plane as a campaign strategy during the 1964 presidential election.

3. A real balloon. Seriously.

There’s a reason the Pentagon thinks China’s weather balloons are actually reconnaissance balloons. The Department of Defense is developing its own reconnaissance balloon.

Pentagon Expected to spend $27.1 million In fiscal 2023, balloon-related projects will have their own reconnaissance balloon reach the stratosphere.

It might seem like a 1960s idea, but high-altitude balloons 60,000 to 90,000 feet above the ground, powered by machine learning algorithms and solar panels, are a cheap and effective way to go. Watch a hypersonic missile test From America’s geopolitical rivals. They can also hang around much longer than any drone.

If any of the giant balloons are forced down, they will become another weather balloon still in use by the National Weather Service.

— Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com.You can also find him on Twitter @Blake Stillwell again on facebook.