Politics

[Ray B]

Nothing about the balloon is puzzling. the CCP is sending a test run. US defenses have been tracking the balloon since it went over US airspace in the Aleutians. CCP wanted to see how the US responded- Is the US bureaucracy so disorganized that no decision to respond would be reached? Answer to CCP: Yes. Would the US allow the balloon to cruise over classified real estate: Yes. Would the US allow a balloon capable of carrying a nuclear device to the center of the country so that it could be set off, causing the dreaded EMP disrupting US communications? Answer yes. CCP can now figure that it has two years before a change in administration would prevent CCP from taking actions to conquer the US and the US will do little to nothing to prevent it.

 

[Scott CWO]

Everything about this balloon incident is puzzling. First off, balloon surveillance reached its peak before the advent of effective fixed wing aircraft! That happened midway through the first world war. Surveillance satellites made fixed wing aircraft surveillance mostly obsolete. The Chinese have surveillance satellites and are taking pictures all day every day. What would a balloon give them that they don’t already have access to? Just plain strange.

Next up, why in the hell is the thing still airborne?! An object the size of a fire truck should have been detected by NORAD. We could’ve easily shot it down before it reached our shore. We could’ve easily shot it down over in unpopulated part of Montana, which is to say mostly anywhere in Montana! I assume the darn thing is sending data back to China in near real time. Why are we hesitating?

I don’t know which country should be more embarrassed. The Chinese for using surveillance balloons, or the US for allowing the darn thing to fly over our territory for days without taking any action.

This whole thing is unfkn believable! Reagan, Bush or Trump would have shot the damn thing down before it reached North America. Chinese are running roughshod over Biden due to $31M his family got through Hunter Biden for no discernible services. Now we know! Either that or Biden is so limp-wristed and risk adverse of the debris hitting something in the middle of no where? That’s a risk you have to take! Frickin wussies!

 

[Doug3006]

They test us by sending a balloon? We have scrambled fighter jets to intercept intentional border incursions by Russia and China for years. That’s a game we play all the time. What’s the next gambit. The Trojan rabbit!?



Seriously, Biden has failed to do the obvious….shoot it down. It’s a political embarrassment.

 

[Ray B]

risk adverse of the debris hitting something in the middle of no where? That’s a risk you have to take!

The US has the ability to capture the balloon, slowly deflate it so that it safely is put on the ground where DOD can examine it, it's information collected & its technology.

 

[Scott CWO]

The US has the ability to capture the balloon, slowly deflate it so that it safely is put on the ground where DOD can examine it, it's information collected & its technology.

At 50,000 feet? I don’t know…

 

[Ray B]

At 50,000 feet? I don’t know…

A 747 ceiling is nearly 45K. I'm sure the military jets could add 5K to that as well as armament that could ventilate the balloon sufficient for a gradual descent.

 

[Scott CWO]

A 747 ceiling is nearly 45K. I'm sure the military jets could add 5K to that as well as armament that could ventilate the balloon sufficient for a gradual descent.

Yes we can easily shoot it down. I was questioning the gradual decent or capture at 50k feet.

 

[jpr9954]

 

[Mekaniks]

Balloon Launches are a common thing and we (the US) launch them all all the time and all over the world. Here is a link to the NASA website.

NASA - CSBF

Main home page of www.csbf.nasa.gov.

www.csbf.nasa.gov

I worked the US Ballon Launch Facility in Antarctica in 2019. We maintained the NASA area where the balloons are stored, prepared and launched. Balloons are really cool for collecting data.
When that data collecting is complete the digital instruments are dropped from the ballon, via remote control, to be picked up on the ground (hopefully). The ballon then travels away and rides the jet streams until it eventually deflates and falls back to earth.

I now work on the Alaska Radar Stations that provide NORAD with the data regarding everything flying in that part of the world.

The path of this balloon went right over the top of at least four of these Radar Stations in Alaska before it entered Canadian airspace where it crossed over several of the Canadian Radar Stations (which also communicate with NORAD) before entering the continental US air space again. There is no doubt that the US has been tracking it since long before it entered our airspace.

If someone brings it down they get to clean the mess. If there was ever any sensitive Chinese electric surveillance equipment onboard, the Chinese have already dropped it off (remotely) along time ago. Even the Chineses are not dumb enough to let us the US get its hands on surveillance equipment from a ballon that could just as easily be had from Satellites.

It would not surprise me at all if one, or several of our balloons have not made it over Chinese ( and many other countries) airspace over the years. Deflating derelict long durations balloons is probably not something that the US wants to get started.

With all that said, the US has competent and amazing group of people that protect our skis from threats every day regardless of politics or the regime in charge at the time. They make the decisions based on the facts and experience.

The political spin and "news" is all just that........Politics

 

[Brent in Az]

Commie Joe, is a spineless CCP asset.
A President that has a pair, would have shot it down.
China is gathering intel for the upcoming war.

 

[PARA45]

 

[RTG]

Everything about this balloon incident is puzzling. First off, balloon surveillance reached its peak before the advent of effective fixed wing aircraft! That happened midway through the first world war. Surveillance satellites made fixed wing aircraft surveillance mostly obsolete. The Chinese have surveillance satellites and are taking pictures all day every day. What would a balloon give them that they don’t already have access to? Just plain strange.

Next up, why in the hell is the thing still airborne?! An object the size of a fire truck should have been detected by NORAD. We could’ve easily shot it down before it reached our shore. We could’ve easily shot it down over in unpopulated part of Montana, which is to say mostly anywhere in Montana! I assume the darn thing is sending data back to China in near real time. Why are we hesitating?

I don’t know which country should be more embarrassed. The Chinese for using surveillance balloons, or the US for allowing the darn thing to fly over our territory for days without taking any action.

Cell phone information. Cell tower information. Radio communication information. Lot of potential snooping that can’t be done from space.

 

[RTG]

And they said it was a stupid purchase LOL.

 

[RTG]

I can guarantee that the US will shoot this thing down. But not until China has gotten all of the information they intended to get from this thing. After that, we will shoot it down. Then watch our Chinese whore president, and our military brass, pound their chests while telling us how great they are.

In this day and age, no one gets promoted past lieutenant colonel without owing the right people. Without being liberal enough to not fight the selling out of our country. It’s not just our president that’s owned by the Chinese.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Totally agree, why in the world would we not shoot it down?

Maybe it's full of MORE classified documents that Brandon left in a closet in China when he was VP and he doesn't want them scattered all over the US like confetti? LOL

 

[CoElkHunter]

Nothing about the balloon is puzzling. the CCP is sending a test run. US defenses have been tracking the balloon since it went over US airspace in the Aleutians. CCP wanted to see how the US responded- Is the US bureaucracy so disorganized that no decision to respond would be reached? Answer to CCP: Yes. Would the US allow the balloon to cruise over classified real estate: Yes. Would the US allow a balloon capable of carrying a nuclear device to the center of the country so that it could be set off, causing the dreaded EMP disrupting US communications? Answer yes. CCP can now figure that it has two years before a change in administration would prevent CCP from taking actions to conquer the US and the US will do little to nothing to prevent it.

My first reaction was it's a test run for dispersing a biological agent(s) into the jet stream over the US? Probably far fetched, but so is Brandon's and our military response to this. Quite disconcerting actually.

 

[PARA45]

 

[Brent in Az]

 

[Brent in Az]

Pentagon confirms a second Chinese balloon.

Pentagon says another Chinese spy balloon is traveling over Latin America

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday night there's a Chinese surveillance balloon traveling over Latin America in addition to the one floating over the U.S.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Mekaniks]

It's fkn amazing to me how many folks that are "pro military" have no confidence in our (US) military based solely on politics and the "news"