The US Army recently announced plans to develop high-altitude systems that can fly over other countries and keep a close eye on nefarious activities. These systems will be able to jam enemy communications from high altitudes.
The system doesn’t reach space; instead, the High-Altitude Extended-Range Long Endurance Intelligence Observation system (HELEIOS) would use a network of balloons that will hover at around 60,000 feet height.
Logistical hurdles causing deployment delays
HELEIOS might not qualify as a spy satellite, but it does pretty much the same work. With the balloons in the air, the US Army will be able to monitor and block enemy communications. The ability to jam communications could prove to be the key during battles, considering the future will see many orbital communication networks for military use.
“The idea is blanketing the deep area with low-cost attritable sensors to enable deep sensing and deep effects,” explained Col. Daniel Holland, the Army capability manager for electronic warfare. “Essentially our question is can we get the payload light enough to fly on this penetrating, high-altitude, attributable platform, get close enough to place our effects on target, likely with a special purpose electronic attack or RF-enabled cyber.”
Going by Holland’s comments, it seems that logistical hurdles such as determining how to control a free-floating balloon are holding the Army back from using the technology. Issues like “is it a good idea to put cyber warfare balloons in the sky?” or “what will any other country think about this?” aren’t the main cause of delay.
Space to be soon be militarized?
It is without a doubt that the new tech is advanced, and adding a sophisticated payload to a balloon and use it for jamming communications is a marvelous feat. But this also means that we might see space become more militarized in the coming years.
Recently, the University of Virginia developed a tuna-shaped robot that can lead to new drones that will be able to travel quickly through deep water and investigate an area. Their invention could also be used by the Navy to inspect their ships for damage.
