US Army develops stratospheric balloon constellations for sensing, comms, and effects

The US Army is expanding experiments with high-altitude balloons (60,000–100,000 ft) as a 'space littorals' layer to provide persistent ISR and communications, and is explicitly considering kinetic/launchable effects from balloons. The novelty is the emerging operating concept: mixed 'constellation' deployments combining a few high-end payload balloons with potentially hundreds of cheap, expendable balloons to create multiple dilemmas and add resilience versus contested space assets.