Chinese "Spy Balloon" over CONUS.

People wigging out over this would have lost their minds during the Cold War, when this sort of thing was standard fare. New Cold War with China coming. Kinda to be expected.

Would've liked for a private citizen to bring it down. Any chance that We the People out here in reality will get the.truth about that payload?

originally posted by: 1.618
Would've liked for a private citizen to bring it down. Any chance that We the People out here in reality will get the.truth about that payload?

Although I understand the idea and the patriotism. The chances of that are less than zero. This balloon was at 60,000 feet. World record snipers would fall short about 55,000 feet of the target. Average Americans about 59,900 😂

I love the way the Chinese reserve the right to be annoyed with the US for downing the weather balloon. FFS. In no way was this mahoosive balloon carrying anything that could spy on continental US. No no no.

The delay in shooting it down may have been the period that intelligence gathering agencies ascertained what the sensor arrays were gathering and transmitting back to home. The dilemma being - the longer it was being scrutinised, the longer it spies on the US.

Joking aside, the recon a device like this could gather is significantly greater than that of a satellite - in terms of the time it is able to collect data at such northerly latitudes.

Low tech it might be in terms of what was carrying the arrays, but really the only thing that civilians know about this balloon is that it was big enough to see easily with the naked eye and it carried large solar panels. What other sensors it had are up for debate, until the military release more information. They may not do that for operational reasons.

None of the mainstream media are even mentioning the PAYLOAD of the balloon, because it's obviously a weather balloon. This is the reason that the U.S. shot it down over the ocean, and used a missile, totally over the top, in a pathetic attempt to destroy the PAYLOAD. Now they are 'trying to recover' the payload, which is the most important thing they could have got from it. Isn't that convenient.

Obviously if it WAS a 'spy' balloon, then they would have:
1) Photographed the PAYLOAD from up close, using a helicopter, so that they could see what it actually was. (I'm sure the U.S. military have actually done this, they just don't want the public to see what the payload is, because it's a weather balloon.)
2) Shot the balloon with bullets, over land, and allowed it to fall, and tried to catch it somehow on the way down (with a hook from a helicopter) or soften its landing somehow, so they could examine the 'spy' PAYLOAD.

99% of the public are so stupid that they won't even think about anything I've written above, as the media are pointing them in a different direction. It was NOT a 'spy' balloon.

originally posted by: horatio321
I love the way the Chinese reserve the right to be annoyed with the US for downing the weather balloon. FFS. In no way was this mahoosive balloon carrying anything that could spy on continental US. No no no.

The delay in shooting it down may have been the period that intelligence gathering agencies ascertained what the sensor arrays were gathering and transmitting back to home. The dilemma being - the longer it was being scrutinised, the longer it spies on the US.

Joking aside, the recon a device like this could gather is significantly greater than that of a satellite - in terms of the time it is able to collect data at such northerly latitudes.

Low tech it might be in terms of what was carrying the arrays, but really the only thing that civilians know about this balloon is that it was big enough to see easily with the naked eye and it carried large solar panels. What other sensors it had are up for debate, until the military release more information. They may not do that for operational reasons.

Absolutely laughable. "for operational reasons". i.e. because it was a WEATHER balloon. If they evidence of it being a 'spy' balloon (LOL), it would be all over the mainstream media.

Chinese war of balloons

Third Chinese spy balloon is ‘operating near US interests’ – but officials won’t say where, after shooting down first balloon off South Carolina coast

Did you not read my previous two posts? It's a WEATHER balloon, otherwise the U.S. military would have PHOTOGRAPHED it up close with a helicopter, to show us the 'surveillance' equipment, and they would have shot it down over land, so they could RETRIEVE the so-called 'surveillance' equipment.

a reply to: JohnThomas2

Good luck getting a Helicopter "up close" at 60,000 ft...

a reply to: JohnThomas2
Please explain how a helicopter would be able to photograph a 'weather balloon' operating at 60000-85000 up close?

a reply to: JohnThomas2

So how is the current exchange rate for the ol' Yuan anyway? You seem to be doing well enough on it.

a reply to: JohnThomas2

The array can likely still be salvaged if there is a need. On the other hand, perhaps they have no desire to retrieve it because they already know EXACTLY what was slung beneath it and how it was communicating.

No need to endanger anyone over land then is there? And if the Chinese were in meaningful dialogue regarding their 'weather balloon', I'm fairly certain the US airforce would have saved themselves an Aim-9X.

Senator Hank Johnson is wondering why the planes didn't tie ropes around it and pull it down intact 😁

a reply to: horatio321
So they couldn't get an aeroplane that high to photograph it?

a reply to: horatio321

All laughable. There IS a need to see the 'array' in order to prove that it ISN'T a weather balloon. Just saying over and over 'it's a Chinese surveillance device' doesn't make it so. And as for " perhaps they have no desire to retrieve it because they already know EXACTLY what was slung beneath it and how it was communicating.", also laughable. They don't know what was underneath it because they never sent an aeroplane up to photograph it. Strange that, isn't it.

It's almost as if it was a WEATHER BALLOON and the morons in power wanted to make it into a big problem, isn't it...

How would they be endagering anybody if they brought it down over land, in an area with no one living there?

Your arguments are laughable. "And if the Chinese were in meaningful dialogue regarding their 'weather balloon', I'm fairly certain the US airforce would have saved themselves an Aim-9X." Not if the U.S. government wants to start a war with China. Where have you been for the past 50 years? Do the words "Weapons of mass destruction" mean anything to you?

So, nobody here can answer my simple questions: Why didn't the U.S. Air Force send up a plane to photograph the 'payload'? Why didn't they shoot it down with bullets, over land, so that they could RETRIEVE the 'payload'? The ONLY reason is because it's a weather balloon, and they would have nothing 'scary' to show us.

a reply to: xuenchen

Ropes and anchors are how we kept Guam from tipping over.

a reply to: JohnThomas2

At least you seem to have given up on helicopters.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
OK, now that life has slowed down enough, I mentioned watching the live Pentagon briefing earlier. I learned a few things:

• The balloon is indeed heading for Minnesota. It was in Montana and heading east.
  
• The balloon is indeed ground-controlled. The military has determined it is a surveillance balloon, which means they have been able to see antennas on the structure and have intercepted signals from it. I doubt they know what data is being surveilled, as it is probably encrypted, but they do know that there's a carrier wave sending data.
  
• The balloon is surveilling military installations. The Pentagon will not say where in Montana it is, only that that information is classified. That means it is national-security sensitive, which means it is close enough to military installations to be considered an issue.
  etc....
  

All laughable. "The military has determined it is a surveillance balloon." LOL at the use of the word "determined". What you mean is "The military ARE SAYING it is a surveillance balloon, but they know it ISN'T, otherwise they would be showing us close up video footage of the 'payload', taken from an aeroplane, and they would be bringing it down over LAND so that they can RETRIEVE the 'payload' and show us all how it is used for 'surveillance'."

a reply to: JohnThomas2

They seem to be mounting quite a big operation to retrieve the actual thing which is probably better than taking some photos:


www.foxnews.com...