BEIJING -- The Chinese reconnaissance balloon shot down off the United States on Saturday by U.S. forces is believed to have been operated with the involvement of the Strategic Support Force (SSF), a command tasked with strategic space, cyber and electronic warfare missions for China's military.
The SSF is believed to be using spy balloons, which are inexpensive to manufacture and have no human casualties even if shot down, to supplement its satellite surveillance.
The downed balloon was reportedly sent aloft from a satellite launch base that the SSF controls in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The SSF is said to be responsible for gathering strategic intelligence and operating reconnaissance satellites to monitor U.S. nuclear weapons facilities and other sites.
