Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) could invest in a fleet of spy balloons in a bid to boost surveillance and intelligence gathering.
According to MoD produced magazine Desider (pdf), its military procurement wing is looking towards “balloon based” systems to successfully “exploit” the stratosphere.
The new equipment—similar to the Chinese spy balloons shot down over America last month—would be developed under Project Aether.
Last year, ministers signed a £100 million contract with a U.S. company to develop “unscrewed platforms for stratospheric communications” as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance purposes.
The surveillance balloons fly between 50,000 and 80,000 feet, meaning that they are less likely to be battered by turbulence….