Just shoot that dam BALLOON down.

Ping Ping Pong wrote:

crete wrote:

First: it isn't "IN" Montana. It is 60,000 feet in the air.

Second: A destruction of the massive object at 60,000 feet does not mean the debris simply falls downward linearly. The debris will cover thousands and thousands of square miles damaging lives and property. Are you going to be cool with debris from 60000 slamming in to your kids school, your house, your head?

Third: YOU DO KNOW PEOPLE LIVE IN MONTANA, RIGHT?

The Pentagon has confirmed it is a spy satellite. Tell me again that Biden is not compromised? The Manchurian Candidate has officially become reality. Better brush up on your Cantonese and start growing some food. Everyone's going to need it.

knox harrington wrote:

The Chinese government acknowledged that the balloon is Chinese.

crete wrote:

hank jr wrote:

I have questions....

1. what exactly would they hope to find using a spy balloon that they can't by just sending a tourist here and driving around?

2. How is this any different than the relentless cyber attacks they do?

3. Isn't this EXACTLY the kind of thing the SPACE FORCE was created for? Those guys should be walking around with massive b*ners right now.

1. one example: civilians can't access missile sites that a balloon can overfly

2. presume they are gathering visual intelligence but there could be other types of sensors (Pentagon brief refused to say, citing classified status of the info)

3. not sure the nature of their engorgement currently

crete wrote:

hank jr wrote:

I have questions....

1. what exactly would they hope to find using a spy balloon that they can't by just sending a tourist here and driving around?

2. How is this any different than the relentless cyber attacks they do?

3. Isn't this EXACTLY the kind of thing the SPACE FORCE was created for? Those guys should be walking around with massive b*ners right now.

1. one example: civilians can't access missile sites that a balloon can overfly

2. presume they are gathering visual intelligence but there could be other types of sensors (Pentagon brief refused to say, citing classified status of the info)

3. not sure the nature of their engorgement currently

Koko the Gorilla wrote:

crete wrote:

You are dumb. They can shoot it down. They are electing not to b/c it carries far greater risk than reward.

What's the risk here, it's in freaking Montana, there's a 1 in a billion chance it hits a cow in the butt. And I hope we have a plan to nuke the rest of these out of the sky before they reach American airspace

F-35 wrote:

Jesus, I go for a run and come back with 3 pages of nonsense.

Here's the answer. The generals find a SR-71, attach a rope with a big meat hook and bring that baby back intact. No one gets hurt, and the Chinese are dumbfounded we figured out a way to do it without pissing them off.

You're welcome.

Lee Ving wrote:

crete wrote:

1. one example: civilians can't access missile sites that a balloon can overfly

2. presume they are gathering visual intelligence but there could be other types of sensors (Pentagon brief refused to say, citing classified status of the info)

3. not sure the nature of their engorgement currently

Or, they simply wanted to watch the Super Bowl but got the date wrong.

crete wrote:

Ping Ping Pong wrote:

The Pentagon has confirmed it is a spy satellite. Tell me again that Biden is not compromised? The Manchurian Candidate has officially become reality. Better brush up on your Cantonese and start growing some food. Everyone's going to need it.

Why Cantonese?

860795 wrote:

F-35 wrote:

It's over the US and I don't care how high it is. Let's see what it really is (fat chance it's a "civilian airship").

I'm not sure how it would be much more useful than spy satellites that are higher for spying on facilities that are mostly underground.

Raddison wrote:

860795 wrote:

I'm not sure how it would be much more useful than spy satellites that are higher for spying on facilities that are mostly underground.

One thing it would do that a satellite will not is to make the US turn on its defence systems, its tracking systems, its monitoring systems etc.

In 1983 the Soviets shot down a Korean Air Lines plane that had accidently strayed too close to the Kamchatka Peninsula. By coincidence there was a a U.S. aerial reconnaissance mission in the area as well (Yes, there was a subsequent conspiracy theory) and apparently the Soviet air defences lit up like a Christmas tree when the KAL flight entered restricted air space.

The Chinese could be doing something similar here.

Lee Ving wrote:

crete wrote:

1. one example: civilians can't access missile sites that a balloon can overfly

2. presume they are gathering visual intelligence but there could be other types of sensors (Pentagon brief refused to say, citing classified status of the info)

3. not sure the nature of their engorgement currently

Or, they simply wanted to watch the Super Bowl but got the date wrong.

Slowsprinting wrote:

Yes agreed, emperor xi is testing the USA political, military reactions and responses to this balloon. It's an offensive provocation, an attempt for dominance. We (the west) are being mooned at. and being sneered, at for how easily the balloon breached our airspace.

I hope Secretary Blinken CANCELS his trip to China, scheduled for next week. And a USA balloon slowly flies into China.

The only reason not to shoot down the balloon over Montana, is if the Pentagon is concerned that it may have bioweapon agents eg anthrax. That would be dispersed on explosion.

I think that's the real reason for not shooting it down, not the lame debris excuse.

The easy of entry into airspace, the low financial cost of this "adventurism", is alarming though. And no doubt, state, and non state adversarial actors are taking Notes (and acquiring a fleet of balloons with engines)