According to documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the US military is conducting experiments to observe large areas in six Midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons.
Currently, up to 25 of these solar-powered unmanned probes are launched from rural South Dakota, and then drift 250 miles through Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, ending in central Illinois.
Traveling in the stratosphere at altitudes up to 65,000 feet (20 kilometers), the balloons are designed to "provide a continuous surveillance system to detect and deter drug trafficking and threats to homeland security," according to an application filed on behalf of the Sierra Aerospace Defense Corporation. Nevada "(Sierra Nevada Corporation).
The balloons carry high-tech radars designed to track many individual vehicles at the same time, day or night, in any weather. The tests, which were not previously reported, received an FCC license to operate from mid-July to September following the first similar flights licensed last year.
The tests were commissioned by the US Southern Command (Southcom), which is responsible for disaster response, intelligence operations and security cooperation in the Caribbean, Central and South America. Southcom is a collaborative effort by the US Army, Navy, Air Force and other forces, and one of its key roles is to identify and intercept drugs bound for the United States.
Over the years, the Sierra Nevada Corporation supplied millions of dollars worth of light sensor aircraft to Southcom, which then flew over Mexico, Colombia, Panama and the Caribbean. But planes require crews and can only fly for a few hours at a time. In a report presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee in February this year, Southcom's commander, Admiral Craig Fuller, wrote: "By improving efficiency, we still successfully blocked only about six percent of known drug movements."
The new balloons promise a low-cost surveillance platform that could keep track of many cars and boats for extended periods. And since winds often travel in different directions at different heights, balloons can usually hover over a given area simply by rising or falling.
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Raven Aerostar, the company that supplies balloons for Southcom's tests and launches them from its plant in South Dakota, told The Guardian that the balloons remain airborne for almost a month. Raven also makes balloons for Alphabet subsidiary Loon, which uses them to provide internet and mobile services from the stratosphere.
FCC filings show that Southcom balloons carry small satellite-like modules equipped with sophisticated sensors and communications. One such sensor is wide aperture radar, designed to detect the movement of every car or boat in a 25-mile strip under a hot air balloon.
Balloons also have advanced cellular networking technologies that allow them to communicate with each other, exchange data, and transmit it to recipients on the ground below.
The FCC notes that this network includes video content. This suggests that the balloons can also be equipped with a video capture system called Gorgon Stare. This global surveillance system consists of nine cameras capable of simultaneously recording panoramic images across the city.
Editorial comment
The news of the appearance of these strange probes caused a mixed reaction at the ameroblogodrome, since the officially announced mission of these probes explains nothing.
As far back as the 1980s, the satellite surveillance equipment used by the US Army made it possible to look at the license plates of cars. Moreover, this was done not by analyzing satellite images, but directly in real time.
It is clear that no one will strain a military satellite to track a laiba with the goods of some drug dealers traveling from Mexico, however, information processing technologies have advanced since the 1980s, so one or another object can always be selected from a huge data stream without redirecting the cameras of the orbital apparatus.
In addition, even the children of US conspiracy theorists know that the entire world drug trafficking is controlled by the special services and, if desired, any state can close this shop within 72 hours: by allowing the sale of drugs in pharmacies at the price of their cost, or by simultaneously interrupting / transplanting all drug dealers. Therefore, all these stories about “surveillance of drug trafficking” are a fairy tale for fools.
Based on the above, the following explanations of the situation are offered:
a) The global state is putting into operation a new monitoring and control system.
b) The US government is preparing an "explanation" for the expected invasion of aliens, which for one reason or another will have to fly without disguise. And on this score, there will already be an excellent explanation: the DARPA stratospheric probe.
c) The global state decided to make the Flat Earth concept an official scientific doctrine, so the need for “satellite dishes” and other circus disappears - communications, television and the Internet will be focused on stratospheric probes flying under the dome.
e) The US government is preparing for the loss of most satellites and is deploying an alternative navigation / communication system. The reason for the loss of satellites already suggests different options: World War III, Yellowstone, meteorite, and so on.
We do not know which version is more correct, but we believe that the latter is closest to the truth, so we follow the development of events: when a lot of probes are launched, then, apparently, everything will begin.
