The past week has seen a massive media and social craze over the suspected Chinese military Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) balloon that was drifting over the United States before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. While the concept may be new to a lot of people, balloons have long cemented themselves as an intelligence platform for militaries for nearly 200 years. Today, as we have seen, these balloons still have a purpose, a purpose that the United States military has poured tens of millions of dollars into in recent years to be used against Russia and China.