The American satellite company BlackSky discovers a new Chinese airship
After the saga of the spy balloon that flew over the US, the private satellites of the American company BlackSky have identified a new Chinese airship in a remote area of Xinjiang. The latest discovery confirms the use of airships, aerostats and balloons by the Chinese military
Spotted a mysterious new Chinese military airship from a satellite at a military base in the desert.
Some satellite images obtained by the broadcaster Cnn , dating back to November 2022 and taken by the US company BlackSky, show an airship about 30 meters long near a highway inside a military complex located in the desert of North-West China.
The satellites took the images three months before the shooting down of the Chinese spy balloon by the Pentagon on February 4 , after the aircraft flew over federal territory for several weeks.
The airship BlackSky spotted is probably not the same type of vehicle that was shot down in the United States. However, independent aerospace experts have said it could herald significant progress in China's airship program, revealing a more versatile and maneuverable aircraft, CNN noted.
All the details.
WHAT SATELLITE IMAGES OF THE BLACKSKY COMPANY HAVE SHOWN
The images also show a huge hangar near the airship, almost 300 meters long, a remote base in the Xinjiang desert in northwest China. They also revealed more details in the desert military compound, including a pivot point used to launch the aircraft.
According to an analysis of Chinese military patent submissions by Arms Control Wonk , a blog run by top arms proliferation experts taken over by Business Insider , the Xinjiang base, also known as the Korla or Bohu site, is also used to develop lasers that can hit US satellites. Furthermore, it is also used to conduct research on high-power microwaves, as well as to develop airships, the report said.
EXPERT COMMENT ON CHINESE AIRSHIP
In late January and early February, the spy balloon affair drew global attention to China's airship program and its place in Beijing's surveillance activities.
Jamey Jacobs, executive director of the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute, told CNN it could take on the role of a "submarine from the skies," with its apparent dedicated propulsion and navigation capabilities allowing it to hover over an area for a long time. period of time.
“It's really the next step for them in terms of promoting engineering and supporting research funding in that direction,” Jacobs said.
Eli Hayes, a researcher who has studied the Chinese airship program for years, also noted on CNN that the appearance of the airship in a Chinese military facility marks a remarkable transition in Chinese airship technology and research: it is no longer just civilian .
THE NEXT US-CHINA CHALLENGE IN NEAR SPACE
Above, below the orbiting satellites, in the so-called "near space" the United States and China are testing new defense systems. ( Here the episode of Startmag 's Spatial podcast on Balloons spy and more. The new challenge USA vs China for the "near space" ). As the New York Times reported in February, US military leaders and politicians warn that China may have surpassed them in thinking strategically about near space.
In 2018, Liberation Army Daily, the official journal of the Chinese military, published an article stating , "Near space has become a new battlefield in modern warfare." The same paper argued in 2020 that “some countries around the world have accelerated the pace of near-space weapons research,” adding that near-space airships “are not constrained by orbital mechanics and do not need expensive launch facilities.” on the surface".
While China isn't alone in using airships – the US military has used balloons – this finding now confirms that the People's Liberation Army program uses all three types of airships: airships, balloons and balloons, stresses the cnn .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/la-societa-satellitare-americana-blacksky-scova-un-nuovo-dirigibile-cinese/ on Wed, 03 May 2023 05:46:58 +0000.