China caught testing secret military blimp at remote desert base

A large blimp developed by the Chinese military has been spotted in satellite imagery of a remote base in the desert of north-western China.

The images of the roughly 100ft-long airship, taken by US satellite imaging company BlackSky and obtained by CNN, are reported to have been taken three months before a Chinese spy balloon was shot down by an air-to-air missile fired by an F-22 fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina.

US intelligence agencies and the Chinese defence ministry declined to answer questions about the presence or purpose of the blimp, but independent aerospace experts said it could herald significant advances in China’s airship programme, revealing a more versatile and manoeuvrable craft.

Jamey Jacob, executive director at the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute, told CNN it could take on the role of a “submarine of the skies”, with its apparent dedicated propulsion and navigation capabilities allowing it to loiter over an area for an extended period of time.

“It really is the next leap for them in terms of furthering the engineering and support of research funding in that direction,” Mr Jacob said.

The images also revealed further details at the desert military complex, including a 900ft airship hangar and a pivot point used to launch the aircraft.

The US defence department did not comment on the threat the blimp could represent, but a senior official said the Pentagon would be aware of the satellite pictures.

The spy balloon incident at the end of January and beginning of February drew global attention to China’s airship programme and its place in Beijing’s surveillance activities.

The latest discovery confirms the use of blimps, aerostats and free-floating balloons by the Chinese military, in an unwelcome development for Washington.

The five-day drama of the Chinese spy balloon traversing the United States from Idaho to the Carolinas triggered a diplomatic crisis between Washington and Beijing and the cancellation of a visit to China by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state.

Mr Blinken called the journey of the balloon across the country a “clear violation of US sovereignty and international law”.

US stealth fighters were scrambled to intercept a high-altitude balloon off the coast of Hawaii last week, it has emerged.

The Pentagon said it did not know where the unmanned balloon, which was discovered floating at approximately 36,000 feet, had come from.

But they said it had not been assessed to pose a threat and that they did not believe it was "controlled by a foreign or adversarial actor".

The Office of the Secretary of Defence confirmed details of the interception to the War Zone website.

"The balloon did not transit directly over defence critical infrastructure or other US government sensitive sites, nor did it pose a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” a Department of Defence spokesman said in a statement.

“Although it was flying at an altitude used by civil aviation, it posed no threat to civil aviation over Hawaii… We will continue to track the balloon with the Department of Defence and the Federal Aviation Administration.”