{"id":32355,"date":"2023-02-05T10:47:40","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T05:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=32355"},"modified":"2025-04-19T10:49:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T05:19:30","slug":"chinese-spy-balloon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/chinese-spy-balloon\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Spy Balloon"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News summary: Chinese Spy Balloon<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Spy balloon and US China tie<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are spy balloons?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why use spy balloons rather than satellites?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The US military has downed the <strong>suspected Chinese spy balloon<\/strong> over the Atlantic Ocean and launched a mission to recover all the equipment from its debris.<\/li>\n<li>This has drawn a strong reaction from China which warned of repercussions over America&#8217;s use of force against its civilian unmanned airship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News summary:<\/strong> <strong>Chinese Spy Balloon<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/iPGrYZq5yfwh_-ikhDslXnappOYWgqvGC8F3HMDB50w_DoRJRz9wWA5E8OB6NhRdRdl0M5bf29x1tWD4-i0Z2Xrb938-Owp0jf90rWt0bZPsEwS8eQLknHJkxD1wJxcDGIvoPn-8lgZql-MX3SV6oA\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: About Chinese Spy Balloon<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Spy balloon and US China tie<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why USA is worried?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier, the Pentagon said it has detected a surveillance balloon over Montana. It was found to be traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic.\n<ul>\n<li>Montana is home to some of America&#8217;s most lethal nuclear Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICMBs).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>USA claimed that the balloon was being used by the People Republic of China to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.<\/li>\n<li>By shooting down the balloon, USA addressed the <strong>surveillance threat posed to military installations<\/strong> and further <u>neutralise any intelligence value it could have produced, preventing it from returning to China<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Chinese infiltration of US on the ground and now in the air has stirred disquiet in both strategic and political circles.\n<ul>\n<li>Proposed land purchases by China in neighboring North Dakota is being opposed US lawmakers and military analysts.<\/li>\n<li>They say that it could be cover for spying on a nearby military facility where drone test flights are conducted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>What is China\u2019s response?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>China has said the balloon, spotted over the state of Montana, is merely a &#8220;civilian airship&#8221; which deviated from its planned route.<\/li>\n<li>After USA shot down the balloon, China expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition towards the US use of force to attack China&#8217;s civilian unmanned airship.<\/li>\n<li>It contended that the use of force by USA was an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are spy balloons?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A contemporary spy balloon is a piece of spying equipment, for example a camera, suspended beneath a balloon that floats above a given area, carried by wind currents.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>The equipment attached to the balloons may include radar and be solar powered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Balloons are one of the oldest forms of surveillance technology. The Japanese military used them to launch incendiary bombs in the US during World War Two.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>They were also widely used by the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.<\/li>\n<li>Modern balloons typically hover between 24km-37km above the earth&#8217;s surface (80,000ft-120,000ft).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/52ZZiDLQ7qnB_HD917pwM-dGptaJfyY7cB-fJEb11ahOJqvXsCsCpHF85og8lboW4QUn6i7DQ5LPfr6wdW0tP_S03UyhzvqmEOi24WCnuBoTYojnBj8ap2h1NMOYMKs5zrzuBoQlMNpcWicGcVJcIQ\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Surveillance Balloons<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why use spy balloons rather than satellites?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>For the last few decades, satellites were used on a regular basis. But now lasers or kinetic weapons are being invented to target satellites.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, there is a resurgence of interest in balloons.<\/li>\n<li>Although, these balloons don\u2019t offer the same level of persistent surveillance as satellites, but are easier to retrieve, and much cheaper to launch.<\/li>\n<li>Balloons can also scan more territory from a lower altitude and spend more time over a given area because they move more slowly than satellites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>What is a surveillance satellite?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Surveillance satellite is an orbiting satellite used to carry out surveillance of an enemy country or military formations from space.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>What is surveillance?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Surveillance is the close monitoring of a person&#8217;s behavior or activities to gather information about them which can be used to influence or manage decision making. In the context of espionage, surveillance comes in many different forms.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/defence\/us-downs-chinese-balloon-drawing-a-threat-from-china\/articleshow\/97614415.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>US downs Chinese surveillance balloon, China threatens repercussions<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<strong>|<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2023\/feb\/03\/spy-balloons-what-are-they-and-why-are-they-still-being-used\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Guardian<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<strong>|<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-64507225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>BBC<\/u><\/a>\u00a0<strong>|<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/world\/us\/us-china-ties-deflate-further-over-spy-balloon-fracas\/articleshowprint\/97584009.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Times of India<\/u><\/a>\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The suspected Chinese spy balloon was spotted by US military over the city of Billings in the state of Montana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}