I'm not sure people realize how big of a deal this is. High-altitude balloons might not be as sexy as autonomous weapons or hypersonics but I think they have the potential to be just as revolutionary for warfare, if not more so. 🧵 1/10

Balloons can basically do everything satellites do but better. No rocket launch means lower cost. Closer proximity gets better performance from sensors and comms. They can offer persistence measured in months. It's like a GEO satellite at lower altitude. 2/10

But the real benefit though is survivability. Balloon material doesn't reflect radar and the payloads tend to be small (the RCS of the payload can be further reduced with LO features like RAM). They're also hard to spot optically or with IR. 3/10

If a balloon is found they're still not easy to take out. Balloons are generally be cheaper than SAMs that can reach such high altitudes. It's also difficult to distinguish between a slow-moving balloon and chaff. 4/10

If they get hit, they don't pop like a party balloon. Rather they slowly leak coolant and can remain in the air for days. Once F-18s fired 1000 20mm rounds into a rogue weather balloon and it didn't come down for six days. 5/10

So why aren't they being used already? Unlike satellites or aircraft, balloons will just go where the wind takes them. Unless they're tethered but as we saw with JLENS the tether can break. Now modern ML algorithms allow balloons to control where they go using the wind. 6/10

In the stratosphere there's always a wind going in the direction you want it's just a matter of adjusting altitude. Sounds simple but it wasn't possible until recently. It's pretty amazing what these algorithms can do. 7/10
www.bbc.com/future/article/20210222-how-googles-hot-air-balloon-surprised-its-creators

So now these balloons can create a C4ISR network that's far more resilient, persistent, and effective than a satellite constellation. Since modern warfare is all about information, this is a big deal especially as space assets grow more vulnerable. 8/10

Balloons could also carry missiles, bombs, or loitering munitions for strike missions. Their slow speed means they can't replace aircraft but they could come in handy for missions that require persistence or low cost. 9/10
www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37868/the-army-wants-to-launch-drone-swarms-behind-enemy-lines-from-hig...

Balloons can't fully replace satellites due to issues like overflight rules, but they still have a huge amount of potential that I think deserves more attention. If you'd like to know more these papers are really good. 10/10
apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA434352.pdf
apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA539680.pdf