Persistent surveillance by high altitude balloons

[Alamo]

The military generally tests its systems over the US and allied countries.

The E-8 JSTARS manned aircraft has been able to track vehicles on the ground since...I dunno, I was in one in 1988 I think. Even the AWACS picked up traffic on the autobahn, because it was going fast enough for the system to flag it. Some claim the JSTARS equipment has the inherent capability to track dismounts (individual people). The balloon is a logical follow-on, especially with continuing miniaturization and price reduction of computing power and the growth of military networks. It would make sense to test all this over friendly territory before you go try it out on the less friendlies.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

Im all for testing the stuff. So why not fly these things over government facilities, and military bases. Let them spy on themselves and leave us alone.

 

[HoughMade]

Yeah but how do you define "what is in the open". At some point we'll need lead lined roofing shingles to prevent being "in the open" in our own homes with the way the technology to see through things is going.

Cases have already spoken to that, generally there is no privacy interest in radiating heat (think grow lights) or sounds, but something that could actually see through barriers (roofs, walls) would be unconstitutional without a warrant.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Cases have already spoken to that, generally there is no privacy interest in radiating heat (think grow lights) or sounds, but something that could actually see through barriers (roofs, walls) would be unconstitutional without a warrant.

 

[joe138]

Hasn't a similar system been in use along the AZ border near Ft. Huachuca in the late 80's to mid 90"s?

 

[Thor]

Im all for testing the stuff. So why not fly these things over government facilities, and military bases. Let them spy on themselves and leave us alone.

Yeah, let's fly over the flag pole again because that's some valuable training right there; just orbiting over the base is so how we should practice to employ in combat.

 

[jsharmon7]

If we don't like the policy of an eye in the sky, that's fine and laws can be passed to stop it, but observing from above what is in the open is not unconstitutional.

I would need a warrant to intentionally observe someone’s backyard with a drone. A high altitude balloon would be considered technology outside the usual realm of the public, so I bet that would need a warrant as well.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Hasn't a similar system been in use along the AZ border near Ft. Huachuca in the late 80's to mid 90"s?

I can confirm it was being used in the late 90's. When I was on the border for JTF-6 they had blimp-type things at Ft. Huachuca watching the people run across the border. They were not really "high altitude" though and I have no idea what their capabilities were in inclement weather.

 

[Brad69]

I may or may not have witnessed them in Afghanistan, don’t really know anything about them to busy watching the ANA guy’s ND Glocks into the refrigerator.


https://we-make-money-not-art.com/big-eye-kabul-surveillance-blimps-over-afghanistan/

 

[HoughMade]

I would need a warrant to intentionally observe someone’s backyard with a drone. A high altitude balloon would be considered technology outside the usual realm of the public, so I bet that would need a warrant as well.

Believe it or not, it depends, somewhat, on how high it is.

 

[Mikey1911]

I have read that in “The Good Old Cold War Days”, SAC used to make simulated bombing runs over all manner of American cities. I think that Dayton Ohio was a popular simulated target because it was thought to resemble Moscow (not the one in Idaho).

 

[Mongo59]

I can almost hear Chevy scrambling to add a color to the new Corvette's option list..........Iron Ball Black.

MH

Would it hang lower than the balloon next to it?

 

[Methane Herder]

Would it hang lower than the balloon next to it?

Maybe if it is on the left.

MH

 

[Jludo]

Radio lab did a good episode on it back when radiolab was good. It's about planes capturing the images but the same principle.

[video=youtube_share;3PpaPyhcHFc]https://youtu.be/3PpaPyhcHFc[/video]

 

[Trigger Time]

Ive been posting about this for years actually. People always called me crazy but I had alittle insight into some of what I was talking about. I would see super high resolution photos starting almost 2 decades ago in war zones and also active & recorded video. Way back then and it just kept getting better and better over the years. So if they've had this technology there you can't tell me big brother would resists the urge to use it here. Legal or illegal to the government only means, caught or not caught. So they slap a national security label on it and courts and oversight be damned.
They have been able to do this same thing with satellites and drones too as well as manned aircraft which also can stay airborne longer than they care to admit with refueling.
They are watching folks. They've been watching. They will continue watching AND LISTENING yep they can do that too.
And no lawsuit or judge will stop or shut down the government. They just rebrand it and move it deeper underground.

 

[Tombs]

Funny that they claim they're for monitoring white supremacists in the midwest, and then we get 2 mass shooting the day after the news story...

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Funny that they claim they're for monitoring white supremacists in the midwest, and then we get 2 mass shooting the day after the news story...

I don't know that I'd consider El Paso "midwest", but of the two shootings, he's been the only one (so far) that's appeared to have anything close to that viewpoint. Haven't heard of a motive in the Dayton shooting yet, although one of the people he shot was his sister. Not clear if that was just blind "bad luck", or if there was more to it than that.

 

[Thor]

These balloons were floated by ND...the UAS Center of Excellence. They have surface tracking RADAR that can follow objects on the ground pretty much like the JSTARS does. Because JSTARS is being sun-setted (for alleged inability to survive in a contested environment) the capability needs to be replaced.

 

[oze]

I have read that in “The Good Old Cold War Days”, SAC used to make simulated bombing runs over all manner of American cities. I think that Dayton Ohio was a popular simulated target because it was thought to resemble Moscow (not the one in Idaho).

I remember it fondly. Supersonic B-58s would take off from Grissom AFB, fly up to Minnesota, then make simulated bomb runs on St. Louis. I was in 1st and 2nd grade at St. John Bosco school in Hammond, and we all looked forward to the "sonic booms" on Thursday afternoons.

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[oze]

I remember it fondly. Supersonic B-58s would take off from Grissom AFB, fly up to Minnesota, then make simulated bomb runs on St. Louis. I was in 1st and 2nd grade at St. John Bosco school in Hammond, and we all looked forward to the "sonic booms" on Thursday afternoons.

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