Chinese Spy Balloon

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Perhaps China Central Television is doing an adaptation of Jules Verne's "Five Weeks in a Balloon" ?

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

This is a good opportunity to test our high energy laser systems…puncture the balloon to bring it down in a controlled fashion so it can be examined.

 

[Mike-AK]

Our military is too busy being woke to bother with shooting down foreign spy balloons. Falling debris over Montana...right. The Air Force needs to find the jar with its cojones and put them back on.

 

[bwade]

Any US laws against a civilian bringing down a China based corporate balloon? What civilian weapons can reach 60,000 feet?

 

[robvious]

all you need is about six 14 year olds with bb-guns to take care of this... getting them up there is the tricky part...

 

[LVSteve]

I suspect there are people in .gov who love to bring the balloon down, but in a condition whereby they could examine its payload intact. At 60k ft or more it does present a challenge to shoot down. While I'm sure many modern jet fighters can zoom climb to those altitudes, most cannot sustain those heights. They were never designed that way.

 

[DWalt]

This is a good opportunity to test our high energy laser systems…puncture the balloon to bring it down in a controlled fashion so it can be examined.

I know development of high energy laser weapons has been going on for at least 25 years, but I don’t know if any have actually have been deployed, at least any capable of shooting down that balloon.

 

[oldbrownhat]

The sooner people realize that the “news” is nothing more than things/the narrative that our government wants us to be exposed to, the sooner we we may begin to do something about the mess we’re in. And I mean all of the “news” that we’re hearing from any mainstream outlet. We are better served to think about what we are not being told, and why, than to try to reason with what is being fed to us.

True of just about any government, irrespective of political slant. I'm sceptical of much that I read but OTOH, there may be good reasons "not to tell us everything" because The Other Side also reads our news. There is likely a great deal going on behind closed doors that we don't - and perhaps don't need to - know about.

Well, that's my dose of optimism over for the day now

 

[ameridaddy]

If they were gathering intelligence, the odds say they came away empty-handed.

"empty-handed"??? Uh...don't forget, they are over Montana, not Washington DC.

 

[jeffrefrig]

There has to be at least ONE person out there that has a good goose blind and a .50 caliber rifle. Which brings to question: what caliber is good for a Chinese weather balloon? (Sorry. It needed to be asked!)

 

[ameridaddy]

Any US laws against a civilian bringing down a China based corporate balloon? What civilian weapons can reach 60,000 feet?

Out there somewhere is a 16 year old drone geek who has it just about figured out.

 

[UncleEd]

The sooner people realize that the “news” is nothing more than things/the narrative that our government wants us to be exposed to, the sooner we we may begin to do something about the mess we’re in. And I mean all of the “news” that we’re hearing from any mainstream outlet. We are better served to think about what we are not being told, and why, than to try to reason with what is being fed to us.

Yes, ideally it should be that the U.S. government
should reveal all it knows and tell all it has
about foreign or domestic activity. And it should
detail just what the U.S. plans are step by step.

Then finally "we may begin to do something about
the mess we're in."

 

[petepeterson]

"empty-handed"??? Uh...don't forget, they are over Montana, not Washington DC.

My apologies. No offense meant to my friends from Montana. I was attempting to insult the entire country.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

The laws controlling the export of helium that forced the Germans to use hydrogen in the Hindenburg were repealed in the 1990s, so shooting it down probably wouldn't be that spectacular.

 

[DWalt]

There has to be at least ONE person out there that has a good goose blind and a .50 caliber rifle. Which brings to question: what caliber is good for a Chinese weather balloon? (Sorry. It needed to be asked!)

I doubt there is any caliber that would reach 11 miles up. And nothing much would happen if there was.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Meanwhile, the U.S. secures four new bases
in the Philippines completing a string of
defenses against China from Japan to Australia.

Best dang strategic news I've seen in a long time, and took me completely by surprise.
US secures deal on Philippines bases to complete arc around China - BBC News

Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

 

[BSA1]

Or dispensing the latest COVID variation.

They can get intelligence such as location of military facilities from satellites. I think they are measuring atmospheric conditions in preparation of their next biological attack. They did pretty good with the COVID.

 

[zeke]

They can get intelligence such as location of military facilities from satellites. I think they are measuring atmospheric conditions in preparation of their next biological attack. They did pretty good with the COVID.

The balloon is up in the air, and that is what they're studying/testing dispersion.

 

[DWalt]

A BBC article which came out a few minutes ago speculates that the use of a balloon provides several benefits:

1. Chinese provocation - just to show the world that China can easily get away with such activities without any meaningful action in response from the US.

2. Balloons can loiter oven an area for much longer than a satellite, thereby providing more observation time over intelligence targets.

3. Balloons are much cheaper than satellites.

 

[Grayfox]

I'd shoot it down just for meanness. Slap China on the back of the hand and say No-No.