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4 flying objects have been shot down over North America: “Spy balloons and UFOs up to no good” (1 Viewer)

HellToupee said:
This seems like we wanted US to notice this for some reason
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I think I get what you're saying, but could you elaborate and leave no doubt?

I think what you're saying is that if we wanted to keep this quiet we could have, but there are domestic/political/warning reasons for not doing so.
 
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This reminds me of a time when I was young. Hanging out at a party a guy came up, took my beer and drank it I was not in the fighting mood and smirked. Then he went over to the girl I was with and kissed her on the lips. When I threw him through the living room window, I was the *******.
 
gump said:
Doug B said:
Anything to see here? Purportedly a fly-by and a shoot-down over Montana. Not sure how to verify something like this, but it appears someone legit from CNN has asked for the footage.

EDIT: Meh ... officials are no fun :kicksrock:
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No way that’s a jet contrail.
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What really got me were the twin flashes in the sky. I couldn't make heads or tails of the contrail -- though early in the video I thought it was a trail of smoke coming from the ruined balloon hurtling earthward. After watching the whole thing, though, that smoke can't be from the balloon.
 
If this really was a weather balloon gone rogue, wouldn't China give US and Canada heads up? Then we have the second balloon over South America.
 
Phil Elliott said:
If this really was a weather balloon gone rogue, wouldn't China give US and Canada heads up? Then we have the second balloon over South America.
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We, the general public, aren't being told a lot. I'd bet a big part of that is that the U.S. doesn't want the Chinese to know just what it is we know about their balloons. Informing the public is not a priority.

EDIT: More specifically, the U.S. and Canada might well have had notice -- either active notice (China gave a heads up) or passive notice (we've been able to monitor these launches from jump, but didn't want China to know that). Either way, the public wouldn't be informed. Keep in mind that nothing hit the fan until civilians in the U.S. saw a balloon -- one balloon of many that have been launched over the past several years.
 
Doug B said:
When a weather balloon went rogue almost 25 years ago, fighter jets fired 1,000 rounds at it and couldn't bring it down (Business Insider, 2/3/2023)

  • About 25 years ago, a rogue weather balloon wouldn't come down after over 1,000 rounds were fired at it.
  • The balloon entered Icelandic air space and drifted north towards Norway.
  • Balloons, like the suspected Chinese "spy balloon" over the US, don't always pop or explode when shot.
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Have they tried lasers? 🤔
 
Maybe China is daring some rednecks to shoot it down so they can retaliate by shooting down one of our communication satellites or something. We have plenty of stuff up in the sky ourselves. Whether it's floating in the atmosphere or up in orbit may be a meaningless distinction to them.
 
Runkle said:
Maybe China is daring some rednecks to shoot it down so they can retaliate by shooting down one of our communication satellites or something. We have plenty of stuff up in the sky ourselves. Whether it's floating in the atmosphere or up in orbit may be a meaningless distinction to them.
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It’s at 45 thousand feet :lol:
 
N
The General said:
Runkle said:
Maybe China is daring some rednecks to shoot it down so they can retaliate by shooting down one of our communication satellites or something. We have plenty of stuff up in the sky ourselves. Whether it's floating in the atmosphere or up in orbit may be a meaningless distinction to them.
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It’s at 45 thousand feet :lol:
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Nothing my squirrel gun can't handle...
 
This episode of Spies Like Us has me entertained and is keeping my attention. I'm trying to find out if there are any watch parties near me so we can drink beer, sit by a bonfire and marvel at the Big Balloon overhead. This is like a slow burn comedy and I cant figure the punchline yet.
 
the moops said:
The Z Machine said:
I'm a pinko leftist and I think they should have shot it down.
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How and with what? What if it landed on someone's house?

I think many are just thinking this is a simple shoot it down now figure the rest out later, when it is anything but that
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I read today if they shot it down it could cause damage to hundreds of Americans. And for what? Just to say we did it? Dumb.
 
Runkle said:
Maybe China is daring some rednecks to shoot it down so they can retaliate by shooting down one of our communication satellites or something. We have plenty of stuff up in the sky ourselves. Whether it's floating in the atmosphere or up in orbit may be a meaningless distinction to them.
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You know it’s not coming across the country at the treetops, right?
 
Using air-to-air missiles like the F-22’s specifically against balloons this one would be a challenge. This is because high-altitude balloons, despite being massive in some cases, can have a remarkably low signature, which creates guidance problems for missiles.
“[Balloons] have extremely small radar and thermal cross sections, making them relatively invulnerable to most traditional tracking and targeting methods,” read a report published by the Airpower Research Institute. “Estimates of their radar cross sections are on the order of hundredths of a square meter, about the same as a small bird. They also tend to move very slowly compared to traditional airborne targets, almost drifting on the wind similar to the chaff that modern Doppler radars are designed to ignore.”
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www.thedrive.com

Why Shooting Down China’s Spy Balloon Over The U.S. Is More Complicated Than It Seems

The emergence of the Chinese balloon above the U.S. left many asking why not just shoot it down, but it's not that simple.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
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