The ‘poor man’s satellite’ offers a relatively cheap way of exploiting a previously inaccessible high-altitude level of the skies
Surveillance balloons, he argued, were “a poor man’s spy satellite and I’m surprised the Chinese would resort to it”.
However, Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, pointed to three potential advantages that balloons have when it comes to intelligence gathering. Beijing may feel it has to try multiple platforms and methods to try to compete with the global intelligence capabilities of the US.
China has so far insisted that its high-altitude balloons are for meteorological purposes, but articles published in the People’s Liberation Army Daily in recent years demonstrate its interest in military applications.
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