They see flying objects everywhere.

The United States and Canada shot down three over the weekend, US authorities announced on Monday (February 13th). 

US authorities did not specify the nature of these new flying machines, but said they "did not perfectly resemble" the first Chinese balloon, which was shot down by the United States on February 4.

Washington has not even established that they were new spy devices.

A blind spot in airspace defense

This succession of incursions into North American airspace in about ten days could “give the impression of an invasion of the sky by UFOs”, underlines very seriously the New York Times. 

What suggest a serious flaw in the security of the North American air sky.

“Congress should hold hearings to shed light on this matter.

The public has the right to know why objects that the Pentagon and the American intelligence services say they cannot identify are flying in our skies”, assures Peter Bergen, specialist in national security issues for the CNN channel.

“It is true that these balloons reveal a blind spot in North American defense,” acknowledges Dominika Kunertova, a specialist in transatlantic relations and the military use of disruptive technologies from the Center for Security Studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. .

The device of radars and sensors supposed to prevent any attack from the sky - baptized Norad (North American Aerospace Defense Command - Command of the aerospace defense of North America) - was designed to detect "essentially flying objects metal and stuffed with 'electronics', recalls James Pritchett, deputy director of the War Studies research center at the University of Hull.

In other words, the radio signature of a balloon is not recognized by these radars looking for the little high-tech beast in American airspace. 

But the question is not only to be able to spot these UFOs using radar: "The Pentagon may very well have been aware of the presence of balloons in American airspace, but the real challenge then is to define where they come from and whether they are civil or military balloons”, emphasizes Kenton White, specialist in defense issues and international relations at the University of Reading. 

Again, Norad has not been calibrated to determine the nature of a flying object that seems to come from another century.

And the army has no reason to shoot down a machine that could very well be a simple weather balloon.

Hysteria?

This uncertainty about the purpose of flying objects in the American sky constitutes the main problem for American anti-aircraft defense, according to some of the commentators.

“The official Pentagon UFO report for January 2022 reveals a disturbing reality: there were nearly twice as many unidentified objects sighted in the sky between March 2021 and August 2022 as between 2004 and 2021,” notes Peter Bergen on CNN. 

As long as the main question was whether they were little green men, those numbers could still be hilarious.

But if it is a multiplication of Chinese spy balloons, things get tough. 

"The whole story is a bit close to mass hysteria in the United States, though," suggests Danilo delle Fave, security specialist at the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS) Verona, who worked on the military competition in the airspace.

For him, the ride of the Chinese balloons may reveal a shortcoming in radar detection systems, but that does not make the airspace much less safe.

They are good spies, but "the information provided by the satellites is sufficient for Beijing's needs", assures Danilo delle Fave.

But “to assess the threat that these flying machines represent for national security, it is necessary to understand the damage they can cause”, assures Dominika Kunertova. 

They don't seem capable of wreaking havoc on their way.

The remains of the balloon shot down in early February and recovered by the American army contain sensors which suggest that this machine was used for surveillance and reconnaissance. 

It is not the type of device capable of calling into question the raison d'être of Norad "which must protect North America against the firing of ballistic missiles, even hypersonic ones, satellites or even planes of hunting”, lists Danilo delle Fave. 

Prevention is better than cure

There would thus be no military reason to review the North American airspace defense system from top to bottom because a few balloons and other potentially spy UFOs appeared in the sky.

But "there will probably be an additional effort to develop new methods to quickly detect these flying machines in order to calm public opinion," said James Pritchett of the University of Hull.

For the experts interviewed by France 24, the most surprising thing about this affair is that the American military made it public.

The risk to national security being low, "there was no particular reason" to sound the alarm so loudly, judge Kenton White, of the University of Reading. 

"The publicity around these UFOs and their destruction by the Air Force is more political than military," wants to believe this specialist.

“The United States wanted to send a very public message to China to indicate that they were now ready to use force to prevent any intrusion into the airspace”, continues Kenton White.

It is also a way for Washington to discourage states which “like North Korea or Iran might want to copy the Chinese example and invest in inexpensive technology – balloons –,” says James Pritchett.

And perhaps thus prevent a balloon arms race.

Because “the risk would be that they are equipped with electronic weapons capable of disrupting communications on the ground or creating short circuits”, underlines Danilo delle Fave.

It would be better to seek prevention rather than cure.

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app