China's Military Balloon Program Raises Concerns Over Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Threat

China: A recent news story has shed light on the activities of a top Chinese aerospace scientist who was tracking the path of an unmanned airship named "Cloud Chaser" as it made its way across the globe in 2019, writes Eva Fu.

Wu Zhe, the vessel's chief architect, had been monitoring the airship's progress on a real-time map and was excited to note that the flight was setting a world record at 65,000 feet in the air.

At 328 feet in length, Cloud Chaser weighed several tons and was about 80 feet longer than a Boeing 747-8, one of the largest passenger aircraft in the world. Wu, a veteran aerospace researcher, has played a key role in advancing the Chinese regime's "near space" race, referring to the layer of the atmosphere between 12 and 62 miles above the earth.

The Chinese military balloon program has existed for decades, but it recently came into the spotlight when the United States shot down a high-altitude surveillance balloon that had drifted across the country for a week and hovered above multiple sensitive U.S. military sites. Wu has ties to at least four of the six Chinese entities Washington recently sanctioned for supporting Beijing's military balloon program.

The Chinese Communist Party has long vied for dominance in near space, which Chinese scientists see as a region for a variety of applications, from high-altitude balloons to hypersonic missiles. From high above, an aerostat equipped with an electronic surveillance system can intercept and turn into an intelligence asset a wealth of information.

The Chinese regime’s military balloon program has been shrouded in secrecy, but experts say it’s part of China’s broader strategy to gain military advantage over the United States and its allies.

“It’s very hard to detect balloons in near space. They’re a silent killer,” said Peter Pry, executive director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, in an interview with The Epoch Times. “The EMP threat from a high-altitude balloon is perhaps the most significant threat.”

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that can be generated by a nuclear explosion or a high-altitude EMP weapon. The effect can cause widespread disruption to electrical and electronic systems, including power grids, communications networks, and transportation systems.

In recent years, China has been developing a range of high-altitude weapons, including EMP weapons, as part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy, which aims to deter or defeat U.S. military intervention in a regional conflict.

“The Chinese know that the U.S. is dependent on space-based assets, so if they can deny us access to space or disrupt our space-based assets, they can gain an advantage in any military confrontation,” Pry said.

In 2018, Chinese researchers published a paper on the development of a high-altitude EMP weapon, that could be mounted on a high-altitude balloon. The paper claimed that the weapon could generate an EMP with a radius of up to 1,000 kilometres (621 miles).

The United States and its allies have been ramping up efforts to counter China’s military balloon program. In November 2020, the United States and Japan conducted a joint exercise to test the deployment of high-altitude balloons to detect and monitor Chinese military activity in the region.

“China has been rapidly developing its near-space capabilities, including high-altitude balloons, to improve its surveillance, communications, and other military capabilities,” said Ely Ratner, who served as deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, in a 2018 testimony to Congress.

“Given the unique advantages and vulnerabilities of near space, the United States and its allies and partners will need to work together to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to compete effectively in this new domain.”