It’s also interesting to me that the news reports appear to indicate that this type of incident has occurred many times in the past, including during the tenures of former presidents.
The China Thread (Threat)
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Without other verifiable info this certainly the only reasonable conclusion to arrive at. However, I can imagine a reasonable tin foil hat explanation going back to the 1950s that exploits climate change, greed. corruption and abuse of power.
Whatever was "escorting" it through our airspace would definitely have a package to collect anything we could off it.
I think it's also naive for us to think this is a new tactic. We all spy on each other, unmanned aircraft just seem to be more prevalent.
The problem with all this ‘the ELINT/SIGINT exploitation’ talk is that China tested our air defenses, saw what we were going to do (nothing, then something too late to matter) and now has options.
It’s all fun and games until they launch 10 balloons, not 1, and they’re all carrying EMPs.
1/10 on the response, Austin sucks again.
It’s all fun and games until they launch 10 balloons, not 1, and they’re all carrying EMPs.
1/10 on the response, Austin sucks again.
So should how many U.S. military aircraft to include those flown by the CIA do all of you have awareness of the Soviet bloc nations and the Chinese shooting down since the Second World War ended?
One published source in the public domain asserts "During the Cold War period of 1945-1977, a total of more than 40 reconnaissance aircraft were shot down." However, it focuses on reconnaissance aircraft where evidence strongly supports that conclusion and not aircraft that went missing with not much known as to how and why. The number is more likely more than 100 if other mission design series aircraft is included.
1945 may or may not include the downing of a B-29 on August 29, 1945 flying an Operational Cardinal sortie to aid and recover PWs from Japanese PW camps now in a region of North Korea controlled and occupied by the Russian military. An excerpt from a published source in the public domain discloses "After the crew was interrogated, the Russians apologized for downing a B-29 in “error.”
The EP-3 was worse than that. The crew didn't complete their emergency destruction routine (I've heard there wasn't one or one that was briefed/ practiced, but can't confirm) and the Chinese rolled up some pretty sensitive tech. That incident was a big win all around for China.
100% this.
There were a bunch of talk about it Being difficult to shoot down given our current weapons systems. I'm up to speed on air to air weapons systems, but according to the pilot in this article:
Sure, I'll buy that taking it down with a fighter is hard, but why not use our actual ADA systems then? Unless that balloon was so stealthy signature wise that a THAAD couldn't track the target, it should have been blasted over Alaskan territory.
D
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I was muttering this to myself last night. (This is why I have few friends
jk)What's the actual malfunction occuring?
Are "we" finding out the disadvantages of an over-reliance on automation versus humans at desks with phone, and now swaths of our perimeter are easily penetrable with no tracking and follow-up?
Or does it entirely "really not matter," while also, stoking fear, alarm, and mistrust in the heart of the populace; because that does matter, however inconvenient.
The whole thing is irritating, but there's also great opportunities to shore things up, get better and improve processes.
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I mean, I get what you are saying, but sometimes watching what something does while passively reconnoitering it is pretty good form. The first step in this algorithm likely isn’t blast it from the sky. Knowing you can effectively disable it via jamming, collect what you can from its transmission of data, then capture it as intactly as possible seems like a good strategy. It seems more likely to found intact in the water, it doesn’t also isn’t strewn across middle America, or the Aleutians in February.
As a guy that knows a little something about waterborne sensitive item recovery post-kinetic action, I’ll just go ahead and wait and see if we recover anything, one, and two, what we get from it.
And I’ll disagree with your contention that ‘step one isn’t blast it out of the sky.’ I absolutely think that’s step one, when we are talking about sovereign American territory/airspace.
And I’ll disagree with your contention that ‘step one isn’t blast it out of the sky.’ I absolutely think that’s step one, when we are talking about sovereign American territory/airspace.
Just about any TECHINT we needed to collect could and should have been done before the device crossed into CONUS. We had all of Alaska and all of Canada to assess/exploit it.
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I like the line where Biden says he ordered it shot down on Wednesday or some nonsense but the Pentason overruled him. Since wGen
Clearly the pilot quoted was incorrect as it indeed was shot down by a fighter with a single AIM-9X.
An AIM-9X was used to shoot down the balloon; The -9X is an infrared/ heat seeking missile. Our other option, because no Phoenix, is the AIM-120, a radar seeking missile.
We smoked a balloon with no propulsion unit using a heat seeker instead of a radar-guided missile?
Interesting.
We smoked a balloon with no propulsion unit using a heat seeker instead of a radar-guided missile?
Interesting.
OK, you all hooked me into the providing tin foil hat conspiracy explanation fun. 
SATCOM wasn’t technology feasible prior to 1960. During the late 1940s and most of the 1950s most long-range communication efforts focused on improving the reliability and effectiveness of HF radio signals communications considered the feasibility of using aerosols to create an artificial layer in the ionosphere. All proposals during this period never proceeded beyond the concept phase due to concerns of astronomers not being able to study the heavens and scientist at the time concerned such technology could easily be weaponized to conduct weather warfare.
Fast forward to 2021 and articles appearing in the media of microsoft’s billionaire founder Bill Gates is financially backing the development of sun-dimming technology that would potentially reflect sunlight out of Earth’s atmosphere, triggering a global cooling effect.
Now consider it’s the lack of stability of ionospheric density and the density layers that certainly effects the reliability of both SATCOM networks and over the horizon HF communications followed by water density in the lower layers of the atmosphere.
Thus an extreme high altitude weather balloon dispersing some sort of aerosol cocktail in the Ionosphere would cause much more longer duration havoc than a burst EMP or a nuke.
Consider also the Gates Foundation quick pivot in 2019 to address concerns of an imminent COVID 19 epidemic and sudden revelations China (or somebody) was flying extreme high altitude balloons prior to the current incident over the United States. Kind of coincidental the two happening during the Trump administration coincides with the outbreak of COVID-19 in the US.
How’s the above as a Tin Foil hat conspiracy that ropes in all the big top dog climate change is going to cause extinction of all life on earth within the next ten years? BTW it also ropes in all the Dr. Anthony Fauci’s making billions on supposedly illegal and unethical gain-of-function research they be conducting in China and then pushing vaccines as the all must taken in form of booster shots forever remedy.
SATCOM wasn’t technology feasible prior to 1960. During the late 1940s and most of the 1950s most long-range communication efforts focused on improving the reliability and effectiveness of HF radio signals communications considered the feasibility of using aerosols to create an artificial layer in the ionosphere. All proposals during this period never proceeded beyond the concept phase due to concerns of astronomers not being able to study the heavens and scientist at the time concerned such technology could easily be weaponized to conduct weather warfare.
Fast forward to 2021 and articles appearing in the media of microsoft’s billionaire founder Bill Gates is financially backing the development of sun-dimming technology that would potentially reflect sunlight out of Earth’s atmosphere, triggering a global cooling effect.
Now consider it’s the lack of stability of ionospheric density and the density layers that certainly effects the reliability of both SATCOM networks and over the horizon HF communications followed by water density in the lower layers of the atmosphere.
Thus an extreme high altitude weather balloon dispersing some sort of aerosol cocktail in the Ionosphere would cause much more longer duration havoc than a burst EMP or a nuke.
Consider also the Gates Foundation quick pivot in 2019 to address concerns of an imminent COVID 19 epidemic and sudden revelations China (or somebody) was flying extreme high altitude balloons prior to the current incident over the United States. Kind of coincidental the two happening during the Trump administration coincides with the outbreak of COVID-19 in the US.
How’s the above as a Tin Foil hat conspiracy that ropes in all the big top dog climate change is going to cause extinction of all life on earth within the next ten years? BTW it also ropes in all the Dr. Anthony Fauci’s making billions on supposedly illegal and unethical gain-of-function research they be conducting in China and then pushing vaccines as the all must taken in form of booster shots forever remedy.
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At the risk of strapping on tin foil because it bears repeating...
GEN Milley's history should absolutely, 100%, be investigated. Congress wants to dive into Biden? Fuck that, look into the highest ranking servicemember and their ties to China. People are focusing on Biden, but maybe that isn't the best angle...
ETA: English and such.
GEN Milley's history should absolutely, 100%, be investigated. Congress wants to dive into Biden? Fuck that, look into the highest ranking servicemember and their ties to China. People are focusing on Biden, but maybe that isn't the best angle...
ETA: English and such.
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The part that irritates me is the President saying he ordered it shot down on Wednesday but, essentially, the Pentagon overruled him. When does the Pentagon get to over-rule the CINC?
More importantly, why did he wait until Wednesday? Simply because it's presence was reported the press. This should've been shot down over a week ago when it entered U.S. airspace on the 28th and it would've never even made the news -- because it didn't have to.
It's incompetent decision making at multiple levels.
More importantly, why did he wait until Wednesday? Simply because it's presence was reported the press. This should've been shot down over a week ago when it entered U.S. airspace on the 28th and it would've never even made the news -- because it didn't have to.
It's incompetent decision making at multiple levels.
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