US Army shifted high-altitude balloon systems from planned Pacific test to support operations in the Middle East

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command discussed expanded use of high-altitude balloons, including a shift of balloon-based capabilities from a planned Pacific swarm test to support real operations in the Middle East. The article also references balloon-enabled concepts for launching drone swarms and mentions a balloon-carried Apollo-R drone demonstrated during Exercise Orient Shield 26 in Japan.