Don’t think this deserves a new thread, so throwing it in here. Why aren’t we doing anything about the China balloon? Seems odd to let a “surveillance” balloon float accords the entire United States over multiple days.
They probably don't want to kill any people or damage property by shooting it down. Better to wait till it gets into the Atlantic and try to preserve as much of it as possible so we can learn/steal the technology. I've also heard this isn't the first time this has happened and we do the same type of stuff. Difference here is the Chinese screwed up somehow.
I just find it hard to believe there isn’t a place over Montana, SD or Kansas where there wasn’t a place without people on the ground at risk
And then have to deal with the anti-government folks claiming black ops trespassing and get into a shootout? No thanks.
I would like to think our federal government has the ability to arrive at a remote location before some hicks, especially if the location was preppanned. But looks like they were just waiting until it arrived at the coast. Don’t know if I agree with the decision to let it fly for 3 more days In order to preserve it. If that is the reason why.
There are some pretty remote and inaccessible spots in Montana and lots of heavily armed hicks and population centres in all three states going on and on about trampled rights, freedumb and government overreach. Not to mention the US Navy’s and Coast Guard’s ability to retrieve wreckage at sea with zero population or damn close to it. How they handled it makes sense to me.
Yeah I think it's fine. Maga would complain either way.
maga would complain if we shot it down 3 days ago. can't win with those assholes. they want every single thing to be both ways.
Yep. Turns out Joe shot it down only because it was public knowledge.
Don’t think this deserves a new thread, so throwing it in here. Why aren’t we doing anything about the China balloon? Seems odd to let a “surveillance” balloon float accords the entire United States over multiple days.
They probably don't want to kill any people or damage property by shooting it down. Better to wait till it gets into the Atlantic and try to preserve as much of it as possible so we can learn/steal the technology. I've also heard this isn't the first time this has happened and we do the same type of stuff. Difference here is the Chinese screwed up somehow.
I just find it hard to believe there isn’t a place over Montana, SD or Kansas where there wasn’t a place without people on the ground at risk
And then have to deal with the anti-government folks claiming black ops trespassing and get into a shootout? No thanks.
I would like to think our federal government has the ability to arrive at a remote location before some hicks, especially if the location was preppanned. But looks like they were just waiting until it arrived at the coast. Don’t know if I agree with the decision to let it fly for 3 more days In order to preserve it. If that is the reason why.
There are some pretty remote and inaccessible spots in Montana and lots of heavily armed hicks and population centres in all three states going on and on about trampled rights, freedumb and government overreach. Not to mention the US Navy’s and Coast Guard’s ability to retrieve wreckage at sea with zero population or damn close to it. How they handled it makes sense to me.
Yeah I think it's fine. Maga would complain either way.
maga would complain if we shot it down 3 days ago. can't win with those assholes. they want every single thing to be both ways.
Yep. Turns out Joe shot it down only because it was public knowledge.
maybe biden told the military they can shoot it down a few days ago. i thought i read that this morning but i'm too lazy to search for it at this point.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,800
Don’t think this deserves a new thread, so throwing it in here. Why aren’t we doing anything about the China balloon? Seems odd to let a “surveillance” balloon float accords the entire United States over multiple days.
They probably don't want to kill any people or damage property by shooting it down. Better to wait till it gets into the Atlantic and try to preserve as much of it as possible so we can learn/steal the technology. I've also heard this isn't the first time this has happened and we do the same type of stuff. Difference here is the Chinese screwed up somehow.
I just find it hard to believe there isn’t a place over Montana, SD or Kansas where there wasn’t a place without people on the ground at risk
And then have to deal with the anti-government folks claiming black ops trespassing and get into a shootout? No thanks.
I would like to think our federal government has the ability to arrive at a remote location before some hicks, especially if the location was preppanned. But looks like they were just waiting until it arrived at the coast. Don’t know if I agree with the decision to let it fly for 3 more days In order to preserve it. If that is the reason why.
There are some pretty remote and inaccessible spots in Montana and lots of heavily armed hicks and population centres in all three states going on and on about trampled rights, freedumb and government overreach. Not to mention the US Navy’s and Coast Guard’s ability to retrieve wreckage at sea with zero population or damn close to it. How they handled it makes sense to me.
Yeah I think it's fine. Maga would complain either way.
maga would complain if we shot it down 3 days ago. can't win with those assholes. they want every single thing to be both ways.
Yep. Turns out Joe shot it down only because it was public knowledge.
maybe biden told the military they can shoot it down a few days ago. i thought i read that this morning but i'm too lazy to search for it at this point.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Don’t think this deserves a new thread, so throwing it in here. Why aren’t we doing anything about the China balloon? Seems odd to let a “surveillance” balloon float accords the entire United States over multiple days.
They probably don't want to kill any people or damage property by shooting it down. Better to wait till it gets into the Atlantic and try to preserve as much of it as possible so we can learn/steal the technology. I've also heard this isn't the first time this has happened and we do the same type of stuff. Difference here is the Chinese screwed up somehow.
I just find it hard to believe there isn’t a place over Montana, SD or Kansas where there wasn’t a place without people on the ground at risk
And then have to deal with the anti-government folks claiming black ops trespassing and get into a shootout? No thanks.
I would like to think our federal government has the ability to arrive at a remote location before some hicks, especially if the location was preppanned. But looks like they were just waiting until it arrived at the coast. Don’t know if I agree with the decision to let it fly for 3 more days In order to preserve it. If that is the reason why.
There are some pretty remote and inaccessible spots in Montana and lots of heavily armed hicks and population centres in all three states going on and on about trampled rights, freedumb and government overreach. Not to mention the US Navy’s and Coast Guard’s ability to retrieve wreckage at sea with zero population or damn close to it. How they handled it makes sense to me.
Yeah I think it's fine. Maga would complain either way.
maga would complain if we shot it down 3 days ago. can't win with those assholes. they want every single thing to be both ways.
Yep. Turns out Joe shot it down only because it was public knowledge.
maybe biden told the military they can shoot it down a few days ago. i thought i read that this morning but i'm too lazy to search for it at this point.
Wednesday is what I read. Military didn’t want to because of the risk of someone getting clobbered underneath.
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,800
US downs Chinese balloon, drawing a threat from China
By ZEKE MILLER, MICHAEL BALSAMO, COLLEEN LONG, AAMER MADHANI and LOLITA C. BALDOR
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions.
President Joe Biden issued the order but had wanted the balloon downed even earlier, on Wednesday. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, U.S. officials said. Military officials determined that bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.
China responded that it reserved the right to “take further actions” and criticized the U.S. for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”
In its statement Sunday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”
The presence of the balloon in the skies above the U.S. this week dealt a severe blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.
“They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden said after getting off Air Force One en route to Camp David.
The giant white orb was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast. About 2:39 p.m. EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, senior defense officials said.
The spectacle had Americans looking to the skies all week, wondering whether the mysterious balloon had floated over them.
On Saturday, Ashlyn Preaux, 33, went out to get her mail in Forestbrook, South Carolina, and noticed her neighbors looking up — and there it was, the balloon in the cloudless blue sky. Then she saw fighter jets circling and the balloon get hit.
“I did not anticipate waking up to be in a ‘Top Gun’ movie today,” she said.
The debris landed in 47 feet of water, shallower than officials had expected, and it spread out over roughly seven miles and the recovery operation included several ships. The officials estimated the recovery efforts would be completed in a short time, not weeks. A salvage vessel was en route.
U.S. defense and military officials said Saturday that the balloon entered the U.S. air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday. It crossed back into U.S. territory over northern Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said Biden was first briefed on it.
The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.
Republicans were critical of Biden's response.
“Allowing a spy balloon from the Communist Party of China to travel across the entire continental United States before contesting its presence is a disastrous projection of weakness by the White House,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., tweeted: “Now that this embarrassing episode is over, we need answers from the Biden Administration on the decision-making process. Communist China was allowed to violate American sovereignty unimpeded for days. We must be better prepared for future provocations and incursions by the CCP.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was more positive: “Thank you to the men and women of the United States military who were responsible for completing the mission to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon. The Biden Administration did the right thing in bringing it down.”
China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research “airship” that had been blown off course. The Pentagon rejected that out of hand — as well as China’s contention that it was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability.
The Chinese government on Saturday sought to play down the cancellation of Blinken's trip. “In actuality, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, the U.S. making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The Pentagon also acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. Officials said the balloons are part of a fleet that China uses for surveillance, and they can be maneuvered remotely through small motors and propellers. One official said they carry equipment in the pod under the balloon that is not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a question about the second balloon.
This isn’t the first time Chinese spy balloons have crossed into U.S. airspace in recent years, one of the officials said. At least three times during the Trump administration and at least one other time during Biden’s time as president they’ve seen balloons cross, but not for this long, the official said.
Blinken, who had been due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday, said he had told senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in a phone call that sending the balloon over the U.S. was “an irresponsible act and that (China’s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”
Uncensored reactions on the Chinese internet mirrored the official government stance that the U.S. was hyping the situation. Some used it as a chance to poke fun at U.S. defenses, saying it couldn’t even defend against a balloon, and nationalist influencers leaped to use the news to mock the U.S.
China has denied any claims of spying and said it is a civilian-use balloon intended for meteorology research. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the balloon’s journey was out of its control and urged the U.S. not to “smear” it because of the balloon.
In preparation for the operation Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace over the Carolina coast, including the airports in Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina. The FAA rerouted air traffic from the area and warned of delays as a result of the flight restrictions. The FAA and Coast Guard worked to clear the airspace and water below the balloon as it reached the ocean.
Television footage showed a small explosion, followed by the giant deflated balloon descending like a ribbon toward the water.
Bill Swanson said he watched the balloon deflate instantly from his house in Myrtle Beach as fighter jets circled around.
“When it deflated it was pretty close to instantaneous,” he said. “One second it’s there like a tiny moon and the next second it’s gone.” Swanson added that a trail of smoke followed the balloon as it dropped.
___
Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in Hagerstown, Md.; Tara Copp and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C.; Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tenn.; Huizhong Wu in Taipei; and researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,731
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
What you and I and every average person reads is irrelevant in that we don't really know what it's all about. Who knows why they waited. We surely don't. It's fun speculating though, right?
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
What you and I and every average person reads is irrelevant in that we don't really know what it's all about. Who knows why they waited. We surely don't. It's fun speculating though, right?
You are correct in that it’s just all speculation for us. But that doesn’t change 2 things for me. One that I can’t think of a scenario where it makes more sense to let it cross the entire US then shoot it down and the reason we were given why we waited to down it definitely doesn’t make sense. Maybe there are scenarios I haven’t though of, and we likely will never know all the details about this balloon. But I don’t trust China, and our government has surely made mistakes before.
It’s pretty sad when a foreign adversary flying a balloon to gather some sort of information (doesn’t really matter why in all honesty) without approval over the USA can’t get everyone aligned to “fuck china” instead of blaming Americans.
I really wish we could see the reaction from our political world if this exact situation and outcome (shooting down in Atlantic after it crossed USA) if Trump had been president. Or Clinton, or Bush, or Reagan. Etc
I don’t know why anyone is still believing it was just a giant weather balloon at this point. 12 hours ago the idea this could be a spy balloon was being mocked here. Kinda crazy people still trust China that much.
Post edited by mace1229 on
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,800
I don’t know why anyone is still believing it was just a giant weather balloon at this point. 12 hours ago the idea this could be a spy balloon was being mocked here. Kinda crazy people still trust China that much.
from a Letter From an American
U.S. defense and military officials said Saturday that the balloon entered the U.S. air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday. It crossed back into U.S. territory over northern Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said Biden was first briefed on it.
The balloon was spotted Thursday over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos.
The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
“In these circumstances, for the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention,” the statement said. “China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved, and retains the right to respond further.”
Whatever the fuck that means.
“Divide and conquer” seems so easy in this country because people can’t get out of their own asses politically.
“In these circumstances, for the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention,” the statement said. “China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved, and retains the right to respond further.”
Whatever the fuck that means.
“Divide and conquer” seems so easy in this country because people can’t get out of their own asses politically.
Yeah, I saw that too. China’s right to what? Fly over controlled airspace of another country?
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
‘The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.’
I don’t know why anyone is still believing it was just a giant weather balloon at this point. 12 hours ago the idea this could be a spy balloon was being mocked here. Kinda crazy people still trust China that much.
I don’t know why anyone is still believing it was just a giant weather balloon at this point. 12 hours ago the idea this could be a spy balloon was being mocked here. Kinda crazy people still trust China that much.
Who was mocking the idea? No one I can see.
I didn’t remember who, but someone said it’s weird because of these things called satellites they could spy with. I thought they were mocking the idea of this being anything but a weather balloon. But I just reread it, I think I read into it wrong.
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
‘The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.’
I saw that too. Not sure if I believe it. Why would they send a balloon that gets less surveillance than what they already have? Within a day of this being public, US officials labeled it as a spy balloon and acknowledged it flew over military bases and nuclear sites. I’m just not comfortable with that..
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,800
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I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
‘The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.’
I saw that too. Not sure if I believe it. Why would they send a balloon that gets less surveillance than what they already have? Within a day of this being public, US officials labeled it as a spy balloon and acknowledged it flew over military bases and nuclear sites. I’m just not comfortable with that..
First you have to decide whether you think the US military and the admin has our best interests in mind or China's. Once you come to that answer, the thought path is simple. If it's our interests, then I believe the military that it analyzed the balloon, the capabilities and determined the course of action that best balanced national security and safety for the citizens. If you believe that the military prefers China, then all of the challenges come into play (like the MAGAs are doing) and they'll never be satisfied.
To me, this is a nothing and it's what the military does every day.
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mickeyrat
up my ass, like Chadwick was up his Posts: 35,800
think I recall reading an estimated 7 ton unit below the balloon., 14,000 lbs dropping from 60,000 feet. would have picked up quite a bit of speed , dont ya think? water landing is preferable to a ground landing. pilots when ditching will shoot for water if possible. estimated 7 mile debris field in the ocean. more easily controlled by USN + USCG in the water with ship and aircraft. than a ground recovery. Estimated 47 feet of water is more easily recoverable with greater likelihood of intact or mitigated damaged parts than over land......
theres a reason why NASA had ocean landings for capsules........
Its interesting to me that China is coming out like they are claiming a private company or entity owned this balloon and equipment. IF thats the case, then I should think a company would seek permission to overfly the sovereign airspace of not 1 country but 2 maybe even enlistthe scientific communities of said countries to further the research......
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
There isn't just the issue of the thing falling to earth and damaging someone's life or property...there is also the issue of the method of taking it down causing unknown or unpredictable damage. What if they shoot a missile at it and miss and it hits a hospital 400 miles away?
And to think that the Chinese really thought they could float a balloon over here without us seeing it? They knew we saw it several days ago. Does anyone really believe that the balloon was still capable of transmitting information once we discovered it? No fucking way. One of our satellites put the scramble on that thing as soon as it hit our airspace.
Bunch of armchair military intelligence officers sure know how to light themselves on fire.
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I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
There isn't just the issue of the thing falling to earth and damaging someone's life or property...there is also the issue of the method of taking it down causing unknown or unpredictable damage. What if they shoot a missile at it and miss and it hits a hospital 400 miles away?
And to think that the Chinese really thought they could float a balloon over here without us seeing it? They knew we saw it several days ago. Does anyone really believe that the balloon was still capable of transmitting information once we discovered it? No fucking way. One of our satellites put the scramble on that thing as soon as it hit our airspace.
Bunch of armchair military intelligence officers sure know how to light themselves on fire.
More than that, it’s “I don’t trust the gubmint or military,” because it’s Brandon at the helm despite it being the exact same military if it were POOTWH at the helm. Faux news reported that the balloon was shot down over Montana, twice, while interviewing Montana’s gubner and not a peep. Good lord is ‘Murica fucked.
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
‘The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.’
I saw that too. Not sure if I believe it. Why would they send a balloon that gets less surveillance than what they already have? Within a day of this being public, US officials labeled it as a spy balloon and acknowledged it flew over military bases and nuclear sites. I’m just not comfortable with that..
First you have to decide whether you think the US military and the admin has our best interests in mind or China's. Once you come to that answer, the thought path is simple. If it's our interests, then I believe the military that it analyzed the balloon, the capabilities and determined the course of action that best balanced national security and safety for the citizens. If you believe that the military prefers China, then all of the challenges come into play (like the MAGAs are doing) and they'll never be satisfied.
To me, this is a nothing and it's what the military does every day.
I don’t believe our government is looking out for China. I also don’t believe China paid Biden to leave it up, or that Biden was compromised and had to, or any of that. Just saying I’d error on the side of shooting it down before it gathers secured information.
There’s always the possibility they analyzed it, didn’t see any capabilities they don’t already have via satellites, but were wrong. I just don’t like a foreign aircraft hovering over nuclear and military sites. We were first told they left it up for safety. Now it’s they left it up so they could study it’s movements and capabilities because it was harmless? Wouldn’t be the first time the US government was wrong with intelligence.
I read Biden Biden wanted it shot down we’d essay too, but was advised to wait by the pentagon. Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense. It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
I read they’d shot it down so that it would land in only 40-50 feet of water. They can be that precise over water, but not keep it in the eastern third of Montana that is empty? Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too. If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
Well you want to recover it too. So landing in the mountains makes it impossible to recover and the payload would be destroyed. So water makes the most sense, presuming they expected it to float.
Regarding the spy aspect, the military said it was able to impede its abilities. They didn’t say how. Also, there are satellites above us that are pretty powerful. It actually makes the most sense that it is a weather balloon. The Chinese would know that it would be identified quickly. The military also said this has happened several times in the last few years.
I’m not buying the recovery issues. If they can shoot it down so it lands just off shore in 40 feet of water, they can certainly target an accessible but remote area on land with a recovery team standing by. Seems a lot easier actually since they’re now worried about sunken debris that will be lost. Falling at full speed landing on water or land won’t make much of a difference if you’re worried about damage. If the deflated balloon acted like a sort of parachute, shouldn’t make much difference either. And just because they get some data from satellites doesn’t mean we should ignore blatant attempts to gather more information while studying our nuclear silos and ignoring air traffic laws. We had to shut down air space to let this thing fly across our country. There clearly was enough of a concern to do that. Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
There isn't just the issue of the thing falling to earth and damaging someone's life or property...there is also the issue of the method of taking it down causing unknown or unpredictable damage. What if they shoot a missile at it and miss and it hits a hospital 400 miles away?
And to think that the Chinese really thought they could float a balloon over here without us seeing it? They knew we saw it several days ago. Does anyone really believe that the balloon was still capable of transmitting information once we discovered it? No fucking way. One of our satellites put the scramble on that thing as soon as it hit our airspace.
Bunch of armchair military intelligence officers sure know how to light themselves on fire.
More than that, it’s “I don’t trust the gubmint or military,” because it’s Brandon at the helm despite it being the exact same military if it were POOTWH at the helm. Faux news reported that the balloon was shot down over Montana, twice, while interviewing Montana’s gubner and not a peep. Good lord is ‘Murica fucked.
If you’re referring to what you posted in the Fox News thread, they didn’t claim to have shot it down. Its poor journalism to show that video I agree. But they made no connection to the balloon. Even reported that it was currently in Missouri during that interview. Not sure how others are making that connection. Unless that was a cut version or the interview or something.
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"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
consulted with, they suggested no, wait.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Still doesn’t make sense to me. The reason they gave and what others came up with here, none make sense.
It flew right over Malmstrom AFB, which is home to some nuclear silos apparently and to some accounts seemed to linger there. The path also covered some of the most remote areas of the country. There were plenty of opportunities to shoot it down without danger to anyone below.
Fears of not being able to secure it are ridiculous. Pretty sure the Air Force can deploy a unit within a few hundred miles pretty quickly, that’s pretty much what they do. Pretty sure they’d outgun any random hicks who eventually show up in some quad hours later too.
If there’s a chance it’s a spy balloon it should have been shot down sooner. If there’s not, why shoot it down at all? The whole let’s let it fly across the entire US then shoot it down for security doesn’t make sense.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions.
President Joe Biden issued the order but had wanted the balloon downed even earlier, on Wednesday. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, U.S. officials said. Military officials determined that bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.
China responded that it reserved the right to “take further actions” and criticized the U.S. for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”
In its statement Sunday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”
The presence of the balloon in the skies above the U.S. this week dealt a severe blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.
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“They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden said after getting off Air Force One en route to Camp David.
The giant white orb was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast. About 2:39 p.m. EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 6 nautical miles off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, senior defense officials said.
The spectacle had Americans looking to the skies all week, wondering whether the mysterious balloon had floated over them.
On Saturday, Ashlyn Preaux, 33, went out to get her mail in Forestbrook, South Carolina, and noticed her neighbors looking up — and there it was, the balloon in the cloudless blue sky. Then she saw fighter jets circling and the balloon get hit.
“I did not anticipate waking up to be in a ‘Top Gun’ movie today,” she said.
The debris landed in 47 feet of water, shallower than officials had expected, and it spread out over roughly seven miles and the recovery operation included several ships. The officials estimated the recovery efforts would be completed in a short time, not weeks. A salvage vessel was en route.
U.S. defense and military officials said Saturday that the balloon entered the U.S. air defense zone north of the Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 and moved largely over land across Alaska and then into Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories on Monday. It crossed back into U.S. territory over northern Idaho on Tuesday, the day the White House said Biden was first briefed on it.
The balloon was spotted Thursday over Montana, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, which has fields of nuclear missile silos.
The Americans were able to collect intelligence on the balloon as it flew over the U.S., giving them a number of days to analyze it and learn how it moved and what it was capable of surveilling, according to two senior defense officials said. The officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the U.S. military was constantly assessing the threat, and concluded that the technology on the balloon didn’t give the Chinese significant intelligence beyond what it could already obtain from satellites, though the U.S. took steps to mitigate what information it could gather as it moved along.
Republicans were critical of Biden's response.
“Allowing a spy balloon from the Communist Party of China to travel across the entire continental United States before contesting its presence is a disastrous projection of weakness by the White House,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., tweeted: “Now that this embarrassing episode is over, we need answers from the Biden Administration on the decision-making process. Communist China was allowed to violate American sovereignty unimpeded for days. We must be better prepared for future provocations and incursions by the CCP.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was more positive: “Thank you to the men and women of the United States military who were responsible for completing the mission to shoot down the Chinese surveillance balloon. The Biden Administration did the right thing in bringing it down.”
China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research “airship” that had been blown off course. The Pentagon rejected that out of hand — as well as China’s contention that it was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability.
The Chinese government on Saturday sought to play down the cancellation of Blinken's trip. “In actuality, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, the U.S. making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The Pentagon also acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement. Officials said the balloons are part of a fleet that China uses for surveillance, and they can be maneuvered remotely through small motors and propellers. One official said they carry equipment in the pod under the balloon that is not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a question about the second balloon.
This isn’t the first time Chinese spy balloons have crossed into U.S. airspace in recent years, one of the officials said. At least three times during the Trump administration and at least one other time during Biden’s time as president they’ve seen balloons cross, but not for this long, the official said.
Blinken, who had been due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday, said he had told senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in a phone call that sending the balloon over the U.S. was “an irresponsible act and that (China’s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”
Uncensored reactions on the Chinese internet mirrored the official government stance that the U.S. was hyping the situation. Some used it as a chance to poke fun at U.S. defenses, saying it couldn’t even defend against a balloon, and nationalist influencers leaped to use the news to mock the U.S.
China has denied any claims of spying and said it is a civilian-use balloon intended for meteorology research. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the balloon’s journey was out of its control and urged the U.S. not to “smear” it because of the balloon.
In preparation for the operation Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily closed airspace over the Carolina coast, including the airports in Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina. The FAA rerouted air traffic from the area and warned of delays as a result of the flight restrictions. The FAA and Coast Guard worked to clear the airspace and water below the balloon as it reached the ocean.
Television footage showed a small explosion, followed by the giant deflated balloon descending like a ribbon toward the water.
Bill Swanson said he watched the balloon deflate instantly from his house in Myrtle Beach as fighter jets circled around.
“When it deflated it was pretty close to instantaneous,” he said. “One second it’s there like a tiny moon and the next second it’s gone.” Swanson added that a trail of smoke followed the balloon as it dropped.
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Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in Hagerstown, Md.; Tara Copp and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C.; Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tenn.; Huizhong Wu in Taipei; and researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
What you and I and every average person reads is irrelevant in that we don't really know what it's all about. Who knows why they waited. We surely don't. It's fun speculating though, right?
Maybe there are scenarios I haven’t though of, and we likely will never know all the details about this balloon. But I don’t trust China, and our government has surely made mistakes before.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/04/asia/beijing-reacts-us-jets-shoot-chinese-spy-balloon-intl-hnk/index.html
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
“Divide and conquer” seems
so easy in this country because people can’t get out of their own asses politically.
Now if they were able to hack into it, monitor the data it was collecting and prevent it from being my sent back, then that does make a lot of sense to wait. I guess that’s why Biden didn’t call me for my advice.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
To me, this is a nothing and it's what the military does every day.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
And to think that the Chinese really thought they could float a balloon over here without us seeing it? They knew we saw it several days ago. Does anyone really believe that the balloon was still capable of transmitting information once we discovered it? No fucking way. One of our satellites put the scramble on that thing as soon as it hit our airspace.
Bunch of armchair military intelligence officers sure know how to light themselves on fire.
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I just don’t like a foreign aircraft hovering over nuclear and military sites. We were first told they left it up for safety. Now it’s they left it up so they could study it’s movements and capabilities because it was harmless? Wouldn’t be the first time the US government was wrong with intelligence.
Its poor journalism to show that video I agree. But they made no connection to the balloon. Even reported that it was currently in Missouri during that interview. Not sure how others are making that connection. Unless that was a cut version or the interview or something.