Col. Joseph Mroszczyk<\/a>, director of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command\u2019s Transformation Integration Directorate \u2013 Space Superiority (TID-SS), said in a briefing with reporters Wednesday at the Association of the United States Army\u2019s annual meeting<\/a> that he was pushing for \u201ca family of stratospheric systems\u201d that included high-altitude balloons of all sizes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat that enables us to do is provide space-like capabilities, really exploiting a transition point between what is normally considered the aerial layer and the space domain,\u201d Mroszczyk said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat operational space allows some persistence and broad coverage in an area where you can deliver space-like capabilities in terms of payloads, but then also take advantage of the deep access that you get from the stratosphere \u2026 being able to go and take advantage of winds that are pushing you where you want to go already, to be able to get either launched effects or other types of payloads for sensing and communication and extension of your launched effects portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n While using balloons as shooters, as Ukraine has reportedly done<\/a>, likely presents a bigger set of challenges than using them for sensing, Mroszczyk said nothing was off the table.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that we\u2019re going to hold back from opportunities and options that would include something that could be kinetic in nature,\u201d he said. \u201cBut right now, we\u2019re doing experiments across the board with all types of different payloads.\u201d<\/p>\n The stratosphere is the layer of Earth\u2019s atmosphere above the lowest layer, the troposphere. The Army uses the term to refer to the stretch from about 60,000 to 100,000 feet, or 11 to 19 miles above Earth. On Wednesday, Mroszczyk invoked the term \u201cspace littorals<\/a>\u201d to describe the band, referencing the Navy\u2019s language for the shallow waters nearest the coast.<\/p>\n High-altitude balloons are not a new military concept. Famously, a Chinese balloon drifted into U.S. airspace<\/a> in 2023, raising national security alarms and leading to the discovery of several previous incursions that had gone undetected.<\/p>\n A 2019 Army University Press article extolled the potential of military balloons as space operations came to the forefront.<\/p>\n \u201cIntuitively, balloons at such heights could perform missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications, missile warning, and precision navigation and timing,\u201d Lt. Col. Anthony Tingle wrote<\/a>. \u201cAs the space domain becomes increasingly precarious, balloons offer resilience and redundancy against overhead capability shortfalls.\u201d<\/p>\n The Army\u2019s current interest in the balloons and their potential is unprecedented, though.<\/p>\n In the briefing on Wednesday, the commander of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, said the systems had been deployed for testing and demonstration to Europe, the Pacific and Morocco.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GZBVOU3XGJ5DITBTIJUXMVSNJV.jpg\")