After the discovery of a Chinese "spy" balloon that flew over the US mainland this week, delaying Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to Beijing, a military expert described to AFP the Chinese balloons as "advanced tools" guided by artificial intelligence.

William Kim, an expert in monitoring balloons at the Marathon Anisative Research Center in Washington, believes that these devices are powerful monitoring tools that are difficult to drop.

The Pentagon had revealed reports of monitoring a second Chinese reconnaissance balloon crossing the Latin American continent, and it did not specify the precise location of this balloon.

While the United Nations warned of an escalation of tension between the two countries with the outbreak of a dispute over a spy balloon, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spoke of compelling reasons that led to the flight of the balloon over American airspace, and accused political figures and American media of defaming them.

artificial intelligence

Kim pointed out that the appearance of the Chinese airship is similar to the shape of a normal meteorological balloon, except that there are some different elements, as its huge payload - which can be seen clearly - consists of electronic tools for guidance and control, in addition to solar panels to operate it.

The expert explained that the balloon could carry guidance techniques that have not yet been adopted by the US military.

He pointed out that with the advancement of artificial intelligence, it is now possible to direct the balloon by changing the altitude to reach a suitable point to find the winds that push it towards the desired destination.

Before that, it had to be directed from the ground with a cable or released, and it had to go where the wind took it," according to Kim.

Kim added that what happened recently, in light of the progress of artificial intelligence, is that we can get a balloon that does not even need its own means of propulsion, as once the height is controlled, its direction can be controlled.

Such technology could still include communications with its base.

Advantages of airships

In response to a question about the reasons for relying on balloons instead of satellites, Kim said that the latter are increasingly vulnerable to attack from land and space, in contrast, balloons have many advantages, starting with their ability to escape radar.

He added that the balloons are made of materials that do not reflect light, as they are not metallic.

So even if it is fairly large, it will be difficult to detect (its existence).

In addition, since spy devices and their payload are small, they can go unnoticed.

Balloons also have the advantage of maintaining a fixed position over the target that you want to monitor over a period of months, unlike spy satellites that must remain in orbit.

probability of error

On the possibility that the balloon arrived in the United States by mistake, Kim said, "(This is) a real possibility. It is indeed possible that the Chinese balloon was initially sent to collect data outside the US borders or higher than that, before it malfunctioned."

He added that these balloons do not always work perfectly, pointing out that the Chinese balloon flew at an altitude of approximately 46,000 feet above the ground, compared to 65-100,000 feet usually for this type of tool.

And he added, "Certainly a little low (..) If the goal is to make it more difficult to detect, and it is difficult to drop it, then it makes sense to send it to a higher altitude."

Difficulty targeting

The American expert warned that shooting down the Chinese balloon is not as easy as it seems.

He explained that these balloons run on helium, so you can't simply shoot them and set them on fire.

"It's not something that explodes," he added, noting that if this balloon is punctured, it will deflate very slowly.

Kim said that in 1998 the Canadian Air Force sent an F-18 fighter jet in an attempt to shoot down a weather balloon that had strayed from its course.

He added: They targeted him with about 1,000 rounds of 20 mm caliber.

And it took 6 days before he descended to Earth.

According to Kim, it is not clear whether surface-to-air missiles work against this type of balloon.

Its guidance systems are designed to track fast targets.