The Pentagon is investing tens of millions of dollars into high-altitude balloons that it intends to use for surveillance. The balloons are hoped to fly twice as high as most commercial aircraft and may be used one day soon to locate and track China’s hypersonic weapons.
Though the move may sound like the plot of a retro science fiction flick, the high-altitude assets are likely to be quite high-tech. Indeed, while the altitude ceiling for commercial aircraft is around 43,000 feet, and that of the U.S. Reaper drone around 50,000 feet, the DoD’s new inflatable eyes in the sky are anticipated to reach heights of as great as 90,000 feet, according to a  new report by Politico….