Pentagon Exploring Stratospheric Balloons to Track Hypersonic Weapons - Reports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Defense Department is significantly increasing its spending to develop new very high altitude balloons to operate in the stratosphere with possible capabilities to track incoming hypersonic weapons and target interceptors to destroy them, Politico reported on Tuesday.

The balloons would be designed to operate in the stratosphere between altitudes of 60,000 to 90,000 feet (18,300 to 27,400 meters) and would be integrated into existing surveillance and early warning systems, the report said.

The Defense Department spent a relatively modest total of $3.8 million on initial research into the balloons surveillance project in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, the report also said.

However, this sum is now being expanded to $27.1 million in fiscal year 2023, the report added, citing official documents.

The unmanned balloons would be operated using Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms and could supplement vastly more expensive surveillance satellites, according to the report.

On June 29, a US hypersonic missile test in the state of Hawaii failed because of a malfunction during the launch. It was the second unsuccessful attempt to test hypersonic missiles under the Conventional Prompt Strike program. The first launch failed in October due to a booster malfunction.