Chinese "Spy Balloon" over CONUS.

originally posted by: carewemust
How to know when China owns and controls a US President.

gettr.com...

China controls more than our President.

I don't know why we are more afraid of a balloon we can clearly see and track, while over 50% of the people are walking around with a Chinese made electronic device on their person, and even a larger percentage of every structure in America is laden with materials and electronics, made in China.

It looks like more than the President is running low on discernment.

China is the leading maritime importer for the United States by an impressive margin, accounting for 42% of all goods shipped to the U.S.

Does it seem like most products you buy are made in China? According to the 2021 Global Imports Report, most probably are. China is the leading maritime importer for the United States by an impressive margin, accounting for 42% of all goods shipped to the U.S. China not only sends far more products in general to the U.S. than any other country, it also leads every category of imported goods, from textiles to plastics to metals and beyond. China increases the volume of goods it sends to the U.S. nearly every year by hundreds of thousands of units.

www.junglescout.com...

a reply to: peter_kandra

China will use any tool in their tool box. People seriously underestimate low tech. I can think of three instances just off the top of my head where low tech solutions bit us hard in the ass, because we were worried about high tech threats.

a reply to: Zaphod58

China has infiltrated the White House. Very basic intel operation.

a reply to: TheRedneck
A super sonic projectile would shred the balloon. Same as a Starstreak would. The friction from the 9X impacting the lower portion of the balloon actually ignited it too.

The 9X was used like an arrow. It worked well! No fuse required. If you pop a balloon with a pin at home, the balloon end up shredded. No explosives required.

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Zaphod58

China has infiltrated the White House. Very basic intel operation.

That happened a long time ago.

This was written January 01, 2013. 10 years ago.

40 Years of US-China Commercial Relations

www.chinabusinessreview.com...

At an event in September in Washington, DC, US Ambassador to China Gary Locke gave a speech highlighting the tremendous growth in trade between the United States and China over the past few decades. “In 1972, our annual bilateral trade was less than $100 million,” Locke said. “Two-way investment in each other’s markets was close to zero. Only a handful of American jobs relied on trade with China. Today, more than a billion dollars of goods and services flow between our two countries each day. More than 800,000 American jobs depend on producing goods and services sold to China.” China is now the world’s second-largest economy and the third-largest market for American-made products, but it wasn’t always this way.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: peter_kandra

China will use any tool in their tool box. People seriously underestimate low tech. I can think of three instances just off the top of my head where low tech solutions bit us hard in the ass, because we were worried about high tech threats.

Yep.
I have my doubts about the technical advancement of the payload/equipment as well. I'm sure it was equipped with SAR and perhaps some 'eavesdropping' equipment, but knowing the 'risk' that the US would intend to capture the equipment, I doubt they'd send their finest spy gear floating along as a free gift to the US. Might be some communication technicalities etc that the US would want to reverse engineer, but nothing China can't get back ahead of fairly quickly. They obviously decided the 'risk' was worth it for this stunt.

a reply to: wavelength

The biggest thing was frequencies and encryption. The physical stuff will be good to get our hands on, but the electronic data is invaluable.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: wavelength

The biggest thing was frequencies and encryption. The physical stuff will be good to get our hands on, but the electronic data is invaluable.

I do hope your right and I hope it was worth the risk of letting it float over our Airspace.

and I also hope our ' Intel ' people i.e. the NSA and NRO had enough sense to Jam this things Signals and keep it from Gathering Intel.

Then again I have my Doubts about what this Balloon was in the first place.

It's a relief that our Commander-in-Chief was kind enough to give us a full explanation that lasted a few seconds as he arrogantly turned and walked away from questions. I feel better 😁

a reply to: Zaphod58

Makes sense.
Hopefully the US gained more than China did from this escapade.

originally posted by: TheRedneck
a reply to: horatio321

Something shredded that balloon.

TheRedneck

High altitude balloons are actually designed to shred.

It's the only way to insure that the envelope returns to the ground, clearing the airspace of possible floating hazards.

(If only someone had had the foresight to apply the same design principle to spacecraft, we wouldn't be faced with the growing problem of "space junk" we now have)

This "built-in self-destruct" feature is what makes filling and launching these monsters so nerve-wracking.

originally posted by: horatio321
a reply to: TheRedneck
A super sonic projectile would shred the balloon. Same as a Starstreak would. The friction from the 9X impacting the lower portion of the balloon actually ignited it too.

The 9X was used like an arrow. It worked well! No fuse required. If you pop a balloon with a pin at home, the balloon end up shredded. No explosives required.

You don't understand the difference between lighter than air envelopes and air filled balloons.


An air filled balloon, like you'd have "at home" pops when punctured because the air inside the balloon is under much higher pressure than the atmospheric pressure surrounding it.

That puncture causes a condition of "explosive decompression", which tears the balloon apart.


A lighter than air envelop floats in the air because the gasses inside the envelope are less dense, hence under less pressure than the air pressure surrounding the envelope . A few holes won't really harm the envelope, especially if those holes are below the bulk of the lift gas volume for that altitude.

Fact is, you could rip off the lowest 1/4 to 1/3 of the envelope, and the remainder would continue to rise until internal gas density reached equilibrium with the external air pressure at altitude.

Only non-explosive ways to quickly bring down a gas balloon (or airship) is to puncture the top of the envelope, allowing the gas to drain itself out and deflate the envelope; or induce a self shred by puncturing the envelope near a point of maximum expansion.

originally posted by: asabuvsobelow

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: wavelength

The biggest thing was frequencies and encryption. The physical stuff will be good to get our hands on, but the electronic data is invaluable.

I do hope your right and I hope it was worth the risk of letting it float over our Airspace.

and I also hope our ' Intel ' people i.e. the NSA and NRO had enough sense to Jam this things Signals and keep it from Gathering Intel.

Then again I have my Doubts about what this Balloon was in the first place.

Depending on what was powering this "balloon", beyond solar panels and batteries, for days (and nights) in the freezing stratosphere,...


It might have been much safer to have let it fly on by.


Inducing a radiologic haz-mat situation in the heartland would not have lead to anything good in terms of peace and diplomacy.

For either side.

a reply to: Mantiss2021

I think I understand sufficiently well, thank you. A supersonic missile will shred a balloon to ribbons - as we have all observed. Whether it be filled with helium or hot air is largely irrelevant.

You still don't need HE or tungsten rods to pop a balloon.

Watch the footage again.

Edit to add: my analogy to a balloon at home may not have been great - but it makes the point that you don't need HE to turn it into an ex-balloon.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: horatio321

A missile sonic boom is very very tiny. It's unlikely that it was heard from the ground.

But probably audible all the same - just not as loud as the report of an Typhoon/F 15/F 22 going 'boom'.

The 'bang' heard a few seconds after the observed hit (but described as an 'explosion' by media reports) seems to fit with a sonic boom, in light of the fact the missile wasn't travelling vertically at the time, it may have been audible at ground level.

If it wasn't the sound of a sonic boom from the missile, then a bang like that may have been from the F 22 itself. I doubt they'd have imposed speed restrictions on this mission as it was over the Sea when engaged.

What 'ya fink?

Where is a Darkstar when you need one, high altitude no problem.

The Chinese spy balloon carried explosives to destroy itself, was 200 feet tall, weighed thousands of pounds and its payload was the size of a jetliner, a top Pentagon official said Monday

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Is it true? Who knows at this point…

At the SOTU...

Maybe a China balloon will be released in front of the camera, or McCarthy will hold up a big balloon that has the word china on it.

a reply to: Zaphod58

But you dont know if it carried any "spy-hardware". Ofc there will be a transmitter to satellites, and if its "spy-data", then it wont be stored onboard.

0 proof.

The US can spin any story they want...

a reply to: kloejen

The detailed pictures taken of it from the ground show an antenna arrangement. It sure as hell wasn't for weather analysis. It wasn't an optical setup, which means that it was for ELINT work.