Eye In The Sky: India alert to Chinese spy balloons; IAF has some of its own

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New Delhi has chosen not to react officially to the US suggestion that China had operated a fleet of spy balloons targeting several countries, including India.

A senior government official told Moneycontrol that India as a sovereign country had a right to assess situations as they arose instead of being provoked by suggestions, even if it came from friendly countries and allies.

These surveillance balloons are fitted with radars and electro-optical sensors or digital cameras which, depending on their resolution, can capture highly precise images. Officials say they can also communicate with satellites using radio signals.

US officials informed their Indian counterparts on February 5 about the Chinese shenanigans, a day after the US military shot down a Chinese `surveillance’ balloon floating over sensitive US installations. The balloon was shot down by a fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina in the Atlantic Ocean on February 4.

“The surveillance balloon project has been going on for several years, run out of Hainan province off China’s south coast. It has collected information on military assets and areas of strategic interest to China in countries like Japan, India, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Philippines,” The Washington Post reported on February 7.

While Indian officials declined to comment on record, sources said that on January 6, 2022 public sightings of an unidentified high-altitude balloon over Port Blair, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands were reported. A `mysterious and suspicious’ balloon was noticed during the course of an Indian tri-services military exercise, which was underway on these eastern islands.

Andaman Sheekha, a Port Blair-based media outlet, had also reported that a similar balloon was spotted hovering high over Port Blair. It raised questions about the origin of the balloon, which was ignored then, but has gathered steam in light of the latest developments in the US.

In 2019, media reports had pointed to the presence of Chinese balloon-borne radars across the Indian frontier in Tibet.

Asked about the possibility of a spy balloon being floated by China into Indian territory, Air Aice Marshal (Retd) Arjun Subramaniam told Moneycontrol: ``It cannot be ruled out. These days it is fair game for countries to challenge the rules-based international order and nothing is off the table.”

He, however, warned that India does not need to be alarmist but pragmatic. ``It is India’s call, and it cannot be provoked merely by what the US says,” he added.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) official said that India has its own helium-filled aerostat balloons. They were introduced 16 years ago on the Pakistan border, but the results have not exactly been spectacular.

The Indian aerostats are tethered to the ground and operate at an altitude of about 15,000 feet, in contrast to the Chinese spy balloons, which are untethered and fly at over 60,000 feet.

Aerostats are fitted with long-range radars, signal intelligence systems, and meteorological instruments. While military radars do have the ability to cover long distances, being high in the air allows them to overcome limitations imposed by the earth’s curvature and other obstacles on the earth’s surface. It can pick up all take-offs and landings or large-scale military movements within a range of 100-600 km, depending on the kind of equipment on board and weather conditions.

Two aerostats — also known as the Tethered Aerostat Radar System, or TARS — were bought per the recommendation of the Kargil Review Committee. While the balloon itself was American, it was loaded with Israeli equipment.

Indian experts predict that such Chinese surveillance will mount in the days ahead. ``You can expect Chinese spying to go up on the Sino-Indian frontier. China is in economic decline and the inclination to establish its hegemony and dominate neighbours in the region is expected,” Rajeesh Kumar, Associate Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, told Moneycontrol.