UK does not have ‘watertight’ defence against Chinese spy balloons
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A former British ambassador to the US warned defence cuts mean he is not confident the UK has “watertight capability” to tackle Chinese spy balloons. Lord Darroch said two decades of underinvestment in the military means there are “gaps around in the technology” of the armed forces.
But the peer insisted there is no need to panic and the public should still “sleep easy in their beds”.
He said: “We will have some capability; whether we have a watertight capability as the Prime Minister says, I’m not so sure.
“But we have enough capability, I think, that people can certainly sleep easy in their beds.”
The ex-diplomat said such surveillance techniques had been “going on for years” and “we shouldn’t be panicking about it”.
“Unless we discover something new, it’s still well-known technology.
“It’s still basically surveillance, still basically spying, and the reality is an awful lot of that goes on everywhere.”
Lord Darroch said it was possible that China was able to get “much clearer” photographs using balloons than the Beijing espionage programme could by using satellite technology.
The UK is reviewing its own security measures after the US shot down four balloons flying in its airspace this month, with Washington declaring one of them to be a piece of Chinese spyware.
A former chief of air staff said balloons could also give spies the chance to make audio recordings.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon said more information was needed on what the balloons were able to report back “before we get our knickers too much in the twist”.
“It’s been sort of exercising my mind, what they are getting from a balloon that they can’t get from other sources, it is not clear to me at all,” he told LBC.
“I think possibly there’s opportunity to listen in to certain things that they might not be able to do so easily.”
Sir Michael said it was probably best to left any objects to drift over the sea before shooting them down.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would “do whatever it takes to keep the country safe” and insisted jets are ready to respond instantly to “police our airspace”.
Pilots reported at least six near-misses with objects which may have been balloons in UK airspace last year.
An air traffic controller told the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) on September 25 that a pilot in the cockpit of an Airbus A319 airliner was “distracted” by an object which was “either a balloon or a drone” passing along the side of the plane.
The US has alleged that China’s People’s Liberation Army operates a fleet of balloons across the globe used specifically for spying.
It said balloons similar to the one shot down off its east coast have sailed over five continents.
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