Britain considers spy-balloon fleet.

(RT) ⸻ The UK government is researching the possibility of creating its own high-altitude surveillance airships, according to the March issue of Desider, a magazine produced by Britain's Ministry of Defence. This comes after the scandal over a Chinese "spy balloon" in US airspace. The UK defense ministry last year signed a £100 million ($118.6 million) contract to research "stratospheric uncrewed air systems," and is considering buying a fleet of spy balloons. Project Aether is working with the American Sierra Nevada corporation, British company Voltitude and the European joint venture Airbus, one of the leaders of the global aerospace industry. The proposed "high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air systems" could be used for "intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and rebroadcast activities" by the UK armed forces and their NATO allies. However, there is still a lot of testing to be done before Britain could operate surveillance airships at 50,000 to 80,000 feet above Earth for long periods of time.