The Chinese espionage balloon.

[Go Bama]

I don't understand what the hold up is on shooting the balloon down. It was over Billings, MT yesterday. It's 1000 miles from Billings to Kansas City so the balloon has some means of navigation other than just drifting in the wind and someone is navigating it remotely.

It seems to me you could just puncture the balloon enough to let it lose altitude slowly, then go collect it.

 

[CrimsonJazz]

I don't understand what the hold up is on shooting the balloon down. It was over Billings, MT yesterday. It's 1000 miles from Billings to Kansas City so the balloon has some means of navigation other than just drifting in the wind and someone is navigating it remotely.

It seems to me you could just puncture the balloon enough to let it lose altitude slowly, then go collect it.

I imagine most everyone is wondering that. I certainly am. Someone should do something before this turns into a national embarrassment. Just allowing something like this to happen would almost certainly embolden our enemies (of which there are many.)

 

[TexasBama]

I don't understand what the hold up is on shooting the balloon down. It was over Billings, MT yesterday. It's 1000 miles from Billings to Kansas City so the balloon has some means of navigation other than just drifting in the wind and someone is navigating it remotely.

It seems to me you could just puncture the balloon enough to let it lose altitude slowly, then go collect it.

They still have to do a flyover of Fort Campbell, Oak Ridge, Fort Bragg, and Camp Lejeune

 

[Bazza]

I dunno.....but this thing about just letting it go wherever it wants - seems like it makes us look like a bunch of chumps!

Chinese spy balloon heading eastwards as US sec of state Blinken cancels visit

Pentagon says there is no evidence of any nuclear or radioactive material on board the balloon, which is operating at around 60,000ft.

news.sky.com

The US authorities said it now knows the object - spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday, close to one of the US's three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base - was a Chinese balloon flying over sensitive sites to collect information.

The spy balloon's route from China over the Aleutian Islands, through Canada and into Montana

The Pentagon spokesperson said it is "monitoring the situation closely and will continue to review options".

The balloon will probably remain over the US for a few days, the spokesperson added

.

 

[crimsonaudio]

 

[Bazza]

I also wonder why this wouldn't be the most ideal time for our Secretary of State to visit China.

I mean......how often do you get a chance to meet face to face with the world leader of a country which "allowed" an unauthorized spy balloon to fly over your country?

Isn't that one of the reasons why we have a State Department?

 

[Padreruf]

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to glide in my beautiful balloon?
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly, we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful Chinese made balloon

The world's a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
For we can fly, we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon


I really think it is looking to see if Hunter Biden is still around...

 

[92tide]

we should ask chuck norris to knock it out of the sky with a jumping roundhouse kick. that'll show the world that we're not a bunch of chumps

 

[Bazza]

we should ask chuck norris to knock it out of the sky with a jumping roundhouse kick. that'll show the world that we're not a bunch of chumps

 

[twofbyc]

Gotta retract - they said (and showed in close up pic) that the business end of that rig is about the size of two school buses. Looked a lot like a double set of solar panels.
But due to information about it lingering in a sensitive area, I’m not sure I buy the “weather data collecting” line presented by China.
We’ll know for sure when they bring it down (and I heard that plan is already pretty much set). Maybe they’re waiting for it to cross the coast and take it down close to shore.
We’ll know in a day or two. Part of me hopes the Pentagon is wrong but they know a lot more than I do.

 

[Bazza]

 

[TIDE-HSV]

The PLA did it now in order to torpedo the upcoming talks...

 

[bamamc1]

Glad the adults are in the room. RTR

 

[BamaFlum]

I will say taking it down isn’t easy over US soil. If you fire a middle, debris could hit a populate area. If you try a burst of auto cannon fire, the rounds can fly hundreds of mile before landing. My guess would be a small unarmed missile to puncture the balloon and let it come down slowly over a sparsely populated area like say Montana!

 

[2003TIDE]

 

[TexasBama]

The Red Zeppelin is now over the Charlotte area

 

[TexasBama]

Another Chinese 'surveillance balloon' is flying over Latin America, Pentagon says

A Defense Department spokesperson revealed the additional balloon after one was assessed to be flying 60,000 feet above the continental United States.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[crimsonaudio]

Oh, another accident.

 

[Bazza]

It's days are numbered now!

Biden praises Top Gun F-22 jet pilot who shot down China spy balloon

An F-22 Raptor out of Langley Air Force base took the balloon down with a single missile at 2.38pm, separating its surveillance payload and sending it plummeting towards the ocean off Myrtle Beach.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[TexasBama]

the balloon isn't that big