China balloon & Airship Development

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luminary

Senior Member
Registered Member
Chinese airships increasing sortie rate over rogue province:

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The White House on Thursday (Jan. 4) urged against China's interference in the upcoming Taiwanese presidential election as the 10th Chinese balloon of the year was detected in the Taiwan Strait.
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During a
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, the media cited the Ministry of Nationa Defense (MND) as saying several Chinese balloons had been tracked over Taiwan and asked for the White House's reaction and whether it had concerns about election interference. National security spokesperson John Kirby said he could not confirm balloon reports over Taiwan and referred the reporter to officials in Taiwan and China over the matter.
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Flight paths of Chinese aircraft and balloon in ADIZ from Thursday to Friday.
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coolgod

coolgod

Captain
Registered Member
Serious question: these recent balloons that fly over taiwan aren't weather balloons right? Or there were always Chinese weather balloons flying over Taiwan, but ROCMND only announces them recently for political reasons?
 
Wrought

Wrought

Junior Member
Registered Member
coolgod said:
Serious question: these recent balloons that fly over taiwan aren't weather balloons right? Or there were always Chinese weather balloons flying over Taiwan, but ROCMND only announces them recently for political reasons?
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It's not a new thing, MND has mentioned it several times in the past. Probably just getting more attention now due to the election.

The MND previously reported a similar balloon above Taipei on February 10.[28] The MND and the director-general of Taiwan’s Central Weather Service have also reported at least seven balloon sightings over Taiwan between 2021 and 2022. A February 12 Financial Times report cited unnamed Taiwanese officials who said such balloons flew over Taiwan once a month on average.[29]
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D

drowingfish

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in war time these balloons will be good auxiliary communication nodes, in case satellites are jammed or shot down. they can be shot down as well but when deployed in considerable numbers it is quite costly to bring down a balloon, considering how much trouble the US had with just one over its own airspace.
 
tankphobia

tankphobia

Senior Member
Registered Member
drowingfish said:
in war time these balloons will be good auxiliary communication nodes, in case satellites are jammed or shot down. they can be shot down as well but when deployed in considerable numbers it is quite costly to bring down a balloon, considering how much trouble the US had with just one over its own airspace.
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I feel like high altitude, solar powered UAV would be more capable in this capacity, but would be harder to mass produce.
 
FairAndUnbiased

FairAndUnbiased

Brigadier
Registered Member
tankphobia said:
I feel like high altitude, solar powered UAV would be more capable in this capacity, but would be harder to mass produce.
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depends on what you use it for. Balloons can be mass produced and have essentially unlimited range if you don't care about speed at all. You can even add solar power, propellers, a rudimentary guidance computer and a small bomb bay with 2x-3x 100 kg satellite guided bombs to make it much more dangerous against ground targets.

UAVs are better for anything that is even a tiny bit time sensitive.
 
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