Chinese "Spy Balloon" over CONUS.

a reply to: ketsuko

I thought you were in Missouri?

TheRedneck

originally posted by: Mantiss2021
a reply to: putnam6

Go you one better.

That is a photo of a "balloon", or possibly, an Aerostar.

The Chinese have claimed that "an Airship" is at the center of this flap.

The Pentagon has said that the vehicle is maneuverable.

Balloons are not "maneuverable" in the usual sense; they can go up or down, that is all.

"Airships", on ther hand, are self-propelled, and can go left/right/forward/backwards, at will, in addition to up and down.


So...


That photo is most likely not of a Chinese spy airship.

Why is it being plastered across the media the way it is?



Perhaps because the military does not want to reveal the capability that allowed them to identify and track the real vehicle, but did want the Chinese to know, publicly, that their efforts at stealthy ISR are ineffective.

Yea do some research getting multiple pics of multiple locations multiple angles, not saying there is or isn't another floating whatever but right now it's this balloon FWIW it's enough

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: Mantiss2021

If this (these) balloon(s) are flying at stratospheric altitudes, I ask, again, how do you propose we shoot it/them down?

We have lasers that could rupture the gas chamber, decreasing lift and causing it to descend. They can be aimed via sight. I could take a couple thousand dollars, build a laser gun, and shoot it down; I just don't want to go to Montana to do it. We can bring it down if we want to. We don't want to.

TheRedneck

Lasers work by heating, and eventually melting their target.


The lift envelope of a stratospheric airship is extremely thin, and highly translucent, if not virtually transparent. A weapons grade laser, at the distance one would likely be fired might damage the envelope, weaken it at the point of impact, but, combined with the disbursement of the beam due to atmospheric intervention and the bulk of the bean's energy passing right through the almost transparent envelope (as it does through the intervening atmosphere) there won't be much energy left to do much damage.

And of course, the lifting gas inside the envelope will absorb a share of the energy received, converting it to heat and further adding to the available lift...like turning up the burner on a hot air balloon.



ETA:

Might also want to note that in any LAV, balloon or airship, the lifting gas, by nature of its buoyancy, tends to collect near the top of the envelope (except in superpressure "pumpkin" balloons), which means any punctures occurring below the widest diameter of the envelope, at altitude, will have little to no effect upon the release of lift gas.

I wonder what nano tech the balloon is releasing.


Probably mRNA based sh#.

a reply to: v1rtu0s0

Give it a rest, mate?!!!!

Wait, someone in Montana hasn't taken a shot at it yet?

(I don't know if that's /sarcasm, or not)...

Anyway - if this doesn't prove Good Ol' Joe is a whipping boy for the Chinese then I dunno what will.

Unbelievable.

a reply to: silo13

Well, it's 60,000 ft in the air, last I checked.


That's 11 miles.

a reply to: JinMI

Can't be right. According to some folk on here it's behind the ISS which last time I checked orbits at a height of 408 kilometers?

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: putnam6

Its over the central US according to the Pentagon, and getting reports over Kansas area which fits

It's not over Kansas.

I just watched the Pentagon briefing live. It's still over Montana, but they are saying the exact location is classified. That's military code for "too close to sensitive military locations." I would suspect southeastern Montana, moving eastward toward northern South Dakota. Kansas is a couple of states away, and those are BIG states.

They're also flat. On my first trip through Kansas, I was taking to a friend on the phone and I mentioned a big storm way off to my left. He looked it up on radar... it was in Texas! Not even northern Texas; it was close to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. The Great Plains are called that because they are flat... you can see for a few hundred miles either way. I have no doubt this balloon can be seen from Kansas, especially with a small telescope; it is at 60,000 feet, whereas a storm rarely gets above 40,000 feet. It can probably be seen from Iowa, too, but that doesn't mean it is over Iowa.

TheRedneck

all Im going by FWIW, So US senator is lying, spouting diversionary tactics Im open to evidence to the contrary

twitter.com...




Is Newsweek lying too? just asking

www.msn.com...

By 7 a.m. ET on Friday, it will have just crossed the border into Nebraska, crossing into Kansas sometime after 7 p.m. ET on Friday evening. Overnight, it is expected to move across northeastern Kansas and into central and southern Missouri by Saturday morning.

The initial assumptions were made by Dan Satterfield, chief meteorologist for WBOC in Maryland, who also used NOAA modeling to demonstrate that the balloon likely traveled on wind currents from mainland China.

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: JinMI

Can't be right. According to some folk on here it's behind the ISS which last time I checked orbits at a height of 408 kilometers?

"trust me bro."

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

It's not behind the International Space Station and it's not over Montana anymore and you can't shoot it down with a rifle LOL.

It was over Michigan's UP last night so what does that make you think being that close to Minnesota?

Last I heard it looked headed towards Whiteman Air Force Base. Follow ADS-B exchange and follow only military aircraft.

a reply to: Mantiss2021

People have been talking about 'the only planes capable of flying in the stratosphere are the u2 and sr71' ...wrong...those are all retired lol

If they are retired dont you think we have had weapon capable planes up there for 20 years? not to mention satellite weapons?

a reply to: putnam6

WHILE ALL OF OUR ATTENTION IS ON THE SKIES, THE UNDERGROUND DINOSAUR RIDING NAZIS ARE PREPARING TO INVADE EVERY COUNTRY ON THE PLANET! sorry..

a reply to: TheGoondockSaint

Eh?

I know you can't shoot it with a rifle. Never suggested that.

Minnesota?

Never mentioned that.

Was replying to a post about Missouri.

I know it's not behind the ISS.

I made that point?

Why address any of that to me?

a reply to: chris_stibrany

You know too much!

Yea I know it's CNN but

www.cnn.com...

5 min ago
Pilots are reporting sightings of the suspected Chinese balloon
From CNN's Pete Muntean

Pilots flying at high altitudes have spotted the suspected Chinese spy balloon as it drifts over the central United States.

“Derelict balloon adrift,” noted the crew of a Cessna Citation private jet in a weather report, which came into the Federal Aviation Administration around 11:30 a.m. ET.

The pilot of the flight, which was at 43,000 feet, said the balloon was 20 miles north of Kansas City International Airport at about 50,000 feet. The publicly-available pilot weather observation is known as a Pilot Report or PIREP.

A source familiar with the situation tells CNN that other pilots are reporting seeing the balloon to air traffic controllers.

originally posted by: chris_stibrany
a reply to: putnam6

WHILE ALL OF OUR ATTENTION IS ON THE SKIES, THE UNDERGROUND DINOSAUR RIDING NAZIS ARE PREPARING TO INVADE EVERY COUNTRY ON THE PLANET! sorry..

Im confused are the dinosaurs riding the nazis?

I completely agree if it was Nazis riding dinosaurs but not the opposite how ridiculous.

are you suggestion the topic isn't worthy of discussion or just trying to inject some levity?

I can't tell

originally posted by: chris_stibrany
a reply to: Mantiss2021

People have been talking about 'the only planes capable of flying in the stratosphere are the u2 and sr71' ...wrong...those are all retired lol

If they are retired dont you think we have had weapon capable planes up there for 20 years? not to mention satellite weapons?

My question is how did it get that close? Don't we have Star Wars, and other means of tracking what is in the skies?

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Permissible.

Allowable.

from Newsweeks via the NWS in Kansas

www.newsweek.com...



any independent verification it's still over Montana from anywhere?