US satellite captures images of new Chinese military blimp at remote base: report

New satellite images show a large blimp apparently developed by the Chinese military at a military base in northwest China, according to CNN, taken months before a spy balloon from the country flew over the U.S.

The satellite images, obtained by CNN, were taken in November 2022 by BlackSky, an American satellite imaging company. They show a 100-foot long blimp hovering over a runway that is nearly a kilometer long. 

Aerospace experts also told CNN that the images of the base in the desert of China showed infrastructure to launch airships and a large airship hangar. 

The report comes after a Chinese spy balloon that flew over the U.S. earlier this year and was eventually shot down off the coast of South Carolina prompted a national security emergency. Lawmakers quickly questioned the Biden administration’s reaction to the balloon, and the event caused a number of other unidentified flying objects to be shot down over American and Canadian airspace over a number of weeks.

The Chinese balloon, which traveled over the mainland U.S., was able to collect information on sensitive American military sites, according to NBC News, despite efforts from government officials to block that possibility.

The U.S. government was able to recover parts of the wreckage of the balloon that was shot down off the U.S. east coast, confirming initial findings that it was a Chinese spy balloon.

Defense officials also said the balloon was part of a larger surveillance program run by Beijing, including other balloons that have flown over the U.S., Central America and South America in the past.