Balloon games

[Rockstar]

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

Meanwhile somewhere on the Outer Banks.

[Rockstar]

The gods must be crazy!

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

b.t.w. seems it was not the first time, there were alrady three balloons in the last years

[August]

Originally Posted by Catfish

b.t.w. seems it was not the first time, there were alrady three balloons in the last years

So the Administration now claims. Not a shred of proof has been offered about that, and even if it were true, the other balloons ,reportedly, only briefly flew over parts of Texas and Hawaii. Not at all in the same league as a grand tour across the entirety of the continental US in full view of millions.

[Catfish]

^ ?

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/06/11547...others-ignored

"However, the U.S. was not aware of the Chinese incursions at the time, [...]"

Which is of course bull. I take it they were well aware but chose not to make it public. It pays to officially overlook such incursions while internally knowing about it, you can gather quite some intelligence that way. Why they made it public now? Did they think this time it was going too far? No idea.

re no sightings, I guess no one "sees" a balloon at that altitude.

[August]

Originally Posted by Catfish

^ ?

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/06/11547...others-ignored

Which is of course bull. I take it they were well aware but chose not to make it public. It pays to officially overlook such incursions while internally knowing about it, you can gather quite some intelligence that way. Why they made it public now? Did they think this time it was going too far? No idea.

re no sightings, I guess no one "sees" a balloon at that altitude.

They are visible. Plenty of people saw this latest one, that's why it became public.

Now I could see a short overflight of one of the Hawaiian islands or Guam or over Florida in the middle of a single night could easily be missed, but given daylight and flying over inhabited areas these balloons they would be seen and reported. If the military or intelligence agencies knew about the previous flights and deliberately failed to inform the President or Administration that would border upon treason imo.

[Jimbuna]

Chinese balloon capable of gathering intelligence - US official

A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that the US shot down this week was able to collect communications signals, a US official has said.

It was equipped with multiple antennas capable of "intelligence collection operations", a senior State Department official said in a background briefing.

The US believes the balloon is part of a wider fleet of surveillance balloons that has spanned five continents.

China has denied the balloon was used for spying purposes.

It has said the balloon was a weather device blown astray.

Its appearance in US airspace has provoked a diplomatic crisis and led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to China - the first such high level US-China meeting there in years. The US military used a fighter jet to shoot the balloon down over the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend.

China has said the decision to shoot down the balloon was "irresponsible" and did not "create a proper atmosphere for dialogue" between the two countries.

The US Navy is still recovering debris from the balloon in the Atlantic Ocean.

High resolution images revealed the balloon - which was about 200 ft (60 metres) tall - had large solar panels capable of operating "multiple active intelligence collection sensors" as well as antennas that were able to collect and geo-locate communications, the senior State Department official said on Thursday.

"We know [China] used these balloons for surveillance," the official said.

"The high-altitude balloons' equipment was clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on-board weather balloons."

The balloon manufacturer also had a direct relationship with China's military and is an approved state military vendor, the official said

The US is considering taking action against groups linked to the Chinese government that were involved in the balloon's flight, they added.

US intelligence, military and foreign policy officials are briefing members of Congress on Thursday about the balloon.

At a Wednesday news conference, Defence Department spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder confirmed that the US believed similar balloons had operated over North and South America, South East Asia, East Asia and Europe.

The US believes the balloons have operated over US territory on at least four occasions, a separate official said earlier this week.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64587228

[Jimbuna]

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

The US is considering taking action against groups linked to the Chinese government that were involved in the balloon's flight, they added.

Originally Posted by Me

If nothing else, we should launch one of our own balloons and see if the Chinese "remain calm" as they are urging us to do...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Genetrix We need to revamp Operation Genetrix and launch scads of balloons on the 'prevailing Westerlies' over China (from Guam or Japan?)...instructing them to "remain calm" as they have pompously done to US..

Project Genetrix, also known as WS-119L, was a United States Air Force program designed to launch General Mills manufactured surveillance balloons over China, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union to take aerial photographs and collect intelligence. The Genetrix balloons reached altitudes of 50,000–100,000 feet (15–30 km), well above any contemporary fighter plane. Between 10 January and 6 February 1956, a total of 516 high-altitude vehicles were launched from the five different launch sites Gardermoen, Norway; Evanton, Scotland; Oberpfaffenhofen and Giebelstadt, West Germany; and Incirlik, Turkey; 54 were recovered and only 31 provided usable photographs. Numerous balloons were shot down or blown off course, and the flights led to many diplomatic protests from the target countries. MiG fighter pilots learned that at sunrise the balloons had dipped into shooting range because the balloons floated to a lower altitude. The lifting gas cooled at night and became denser, reducing lift, so the balloons descended to lower altitudes where the air was denser.Top-secret high-altitude balloon programs such as Moby Dick, Moby Dick High and 119L may account for many of the UFO sightings starting around the mid-20th century. The U-2 spy plane was later developed to replace the Genetrix balloons. The Soviets recovered many of these balloons and their temperature-resistant and radiation-hardened film would later be used in the Luna 3 probe to capture the first images of the far side of the Moon.

Considering that Chinese 'junior pilots' are currently harassing our recon aircraft flying well outside Chinese territorial waters in international waters often flying within feet using jet turbulance to intimidate our aircrews, this would be an inexpensive retaliation and expose the Chinese 'double standard for "remaining calm" And, it'd be fun to see what they've got of their new generation aircraft that can shoot down a balloon above 62,000 ft! That would be useful intelligence indeed!

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I give...

[Jimbuna]

US shoots down unknown object 'the size of a small car' after it entered airspace near Alaska

The object, shot down on the order of President Joe Biden, was flying at a high altitude of about 40,000ft and was the size of a small car, the White House said.

It posed a "reasonable threat" to the safety of civilian flights, said John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman.

It was unclear where the object came from.

"We don't know who owns this object," said Mr Kirby.

US officials said: "Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object over water."

An F-22 aircraft took down the object using a Sidewinder missile over territorial waters - now frozen.

There was no indication the object was manned, nor did the Pentagon know what speed it was travelling at.

The incident happened just days after the US downed a Chinese balloon believed to be a spy aircraft.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...e288d22644cd13

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

US shoots down unknown object 'the size of a small car' after it entered airspace near Alaska
It was unclear where the object came from.
"We don't know who owns this object," said Mr Kirby.

"We do not know what it is? Shoot it down and ask questions later."
There went your chance of becoming a member of the 22 planet's federation from Alpha Centauri.

[Skybird]

"Object"...? What stupid description is this?



Wings? Rotary? Balloon? Fas movi ng? Slowly hiovering? Travelling with the winds?



Boris Becker's certain single serve from Wimbledon that went amiss long time ago?

[Skybird]

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