The spy balloon incident from January brought significant attention to China’s airship program, revealing how useful airships can be to its spying activities. The National Security Council did not respond to a request. “You can expect because it’s available via satellite imagery that we’re tracking the object,” the official said. Courtesy BlackSkyĪ senior Defense Department official declined to comment on what threats the blimp represents in China’s arsenal but said since it’s visible, the Pentagon would be aware. Tarps covering parts of the cradle indicate it may have been undergoing some sort of test or maintenance.

On August 10, 2022, a BlackSky satellite imaged the cradle out of the hangar and sitting at the pivot point on the runway.

“It really is the next leap for them in terms of furthering the engineering and support of research funding in that direction,” Jacobs said.ĬNN reached out to several congressional and administration offices familiar with US intelligence on China who would not speak directly about the base or the blimp. Oklahoma Aerospace Institute executive director Jamey Jacobs said a blimp like this could be used as a “submarine of the skies,” and that it appears to have dedicated propulsion and navigation capabilities, which would allow it to loiter over an area for an extended period. CNN presented the imagery to a number of aerospace experts, who confirmed they show a blimp and runway, bookended by a pivot point used to launch airships, as well as a massive, nearly 900-foot airship hangar. The images, taken in November 2022 by US satellite imaging company BlackSky, show a roughly 100-foot long blimp in the middle of a nearly kilometer-long runway at a desert military complex in northwestern China.

Travis Huffstetler/APĬhina's balloons are part of a strategy to beat the US on a new battlefield: 'near space' A suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Carolinas before being shot down on February 4, 2023.

The unlikely spy review