r/worldnews
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u/GuiltySigurdsson
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Feb 04 '23
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US downs Chinese balloon over ocean, moves to recover debris
https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-china-antony-blinken-51e49202f2a0a50541cde059934c4cfb9.4k
u/Monster_Voice
Feb 04 '23
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Never forget the battle of Myrtle Beach!
We shall rebuild!
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u/viccityguy2k Feb 04 '23
America’s first official air battle victory in a while
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u/Monster_Voice Feb 04 '23
You know that pilot is doing a happy dance behind his aviators for at least the next year...
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u/Fuzzyphilosopher Feb 04 '23
And the aircraft will get a balloon kill painted on it first thing.
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u/Bitter_Coach_8138 Feb 04 '23
$200 million dollar state of the art 5th gen fighter, with a balloon kill on it. You can’t make this shit up
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u/rudelude Feb 04 '23
I mean, if anything it speaks to the Raptor's air superiority during it's lifetime. It's not meant for air-to-air combat. It's a deterrent
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u/SarcasticOptimist Feb 05 '23 •
F22s couldn't beat a squadron of SU57s.
Because there's no squadron of SU57s.
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u/Jonas_Venture_Sr Feb 04 '23
It’s our first ever arial victory over the continental US. We finally got that victory after 247 years.
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u/Minguseyes Feb 05 '23
Didn’t your immediate past President note the important part played by Revolutionary War troops taking over the airports ? It’s about time the efforts of your 18th Century airmen were acknowledged.
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u/DiddleMe-Elmo Feb 04 '23
Kenny Fucking Powers.
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Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 05 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/nooo82222 Feb 04 '23
That 2nd video “that’s my Air Force there buddy” lol
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u/WTK55 Feb 04 '23
The guy who said that was clearly a level 1 Dart Monkey
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u/supergeometry Feb 04 '23
I'm curious if they manage to recover some data
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u/zombieblackbird Feb 04 '23
Even if they don't, the hardware configuration will provide enough information to extrapolate its purpose. But I would be surprised if the data was unrecoverable.
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u/woahdailo Feb 04 '23 •
Its a XiaoMi 13 Pro tied to a Doreamon balloon from Tao Bao.
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u/Nakiriiii Feb 04 '23
Considering Russian Orlan drones have just cheap Canon cameras in them. This could be true.
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u/PiscatorLager Feb 04 '23
There's cheap Canon cameras?
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u/salparadisimo
Feb 04 '23
edited Feb 04 '23
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Cannot believe this thing flew directly over my house and I watched fighter jets shoot it down. What a wild afternoon.
Edit: So you don’t have to scroll, here’s a not so visually stunning vid I took about 10 mins prior to the pop.
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u/TyrannosaurusWest Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 05 '23 •
Haha glad you saw it; your comment reminded me of a funny exchange that happened last night on CSPAN between the general and a reporter.
Love this exchange:
Phil:
Is the -is the position of the balloon classified?
Gen Ryder:
Uh…Phil, what were not going to do is get into an hour by hour location of the balloon. Again, we’re monitoring it closely - as I mentioned right now it’s over the center of the continental United States - that’s - about as specific as I’m going to get.
Phil:
Does the public not have a right - to know - -
Gen Ryder:
The public certainly has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is.
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u/141_1337 Feb 04 '23
This man sounds like he is done with this whole balloon bullshit lol.
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u/MarylandHusker Feb 04 '23
It’s incredibly dumb. The whole thing is a joke. People reacting like it’s some crazy new thing that major world players have the ability to take photos from above. Like for fucks sake, what do you think all of these satellites have been doing since before the space race? The reason the military didn’t do anything about the balloon is because its utterly irrelevant. The reason they did something about the balloon is because the media made it into a big thing (which like I get, it’s weird and odd but the reason for the balloon and political posturing is a joke).
The thing about this that’s weird is why now? Was there something that was happening that (presumably) china wanted us attention on elsewhere?
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u/Ozlin Feb 05 '23
It makes me think we need some sort of national fun balloon that everyone can get excited about. Kinda like watching Santa go across the country. Make it clear that it doesn't do anything and is American made, then just have everybody get excited seeing where it goes.
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u/TyrannosaurusWest Feb 05 '23
We have a couple to choose from:
- Balloonfest ‘86
- When Barney was slaughtered at the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade
- Balloon Boy hoax
- The USS Shenandoah crash
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u/caboosetp Feb 05 '23
These are all ... like... bad events. Barney wasn't terrible, just mortifying for little kids, but the rest were pretty bad. Even Balloonfest ‘86 was an environmental disaster.
Typically, a helium-filled latex balloon that is released outdoors will stay aloft long enough to be fully deflated before it descends to Earth.[8] However, the Balloonfest balloons collided with a front of cool air and rain, which caused them to drop towards the ground while still inflated. The descending balloons clogged the land and waterways of Northeast Ohio. In the days following the event, many balloons were reported washed ashore on the Canadian side of Lake Erie causing water pollution.[6] Some people had misconceptions about the environmental impact of balloon releases, thinking that "the balloons would reach an altitude where they popped and disintegrated."[7]
Burke Lakefront Airport had to shut down a runway for half an hour after balloons landed there.[1][3] Traffic collisions were also reported "as drivers swerved to avoid slow motion blizzards of multicolored orbs or took their eyes off the road to gawk at the overhead spectacle".[3] Motorists on the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway ran into fences and each other before the roadway was shut down. A bulldozer was needed to help clear away the balloons.[7]
Two fishermen, Raymond Broderick and Bernard Sulzer, who had gone out on September 26, were reported missing by their families on the day of the event. Rescuers spotted their 16-foot (4.9 m) boat anchored west of the Edgewater Park breakwall. A Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter crew had difficulties reaching the area because of the "asteroid field" of balloons.[9] A search-and-rescue boat crew tried to spot the fishermen floating in the lake, but Guard officials said balloons in the water made it impossible to see whether anyone was in the lake.[1] On September 29, the Coast Guard suspended its search. The fishermen's bodies subsequently washed ashore. The wife of one of the fishermen sued the United Way of Cleveland and the company that organized the balloon release for $3.2 million and later settled on undisclosed terms.[1]
Balloons landing on a pasture in Medina County, Ohio, spooked Louise Nowakowski's Arabian horses, which allegedly suffered permanent injuries as a result. Nowakowski sued the United Way of Cleveland for $100,000 in damages and settled for undisclosed terms.[1]
The fundraiser lost money due to cost overruns.[5]
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u/CaptnKhaos Feb 05 '23
Could you imagine the conspiracy theories that would come out of that, especially if it was an open project? It would be amazing! Lets do it!
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u/fastolfe00 Feb 04 '23
"Wait you mean there's reality outside the internet and cable news telling me what to believe? Nice try. #dontlookup."
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u/OmNomSandvich Feb 04 '23
every general learns that war is a continuation of shitposting by other means
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u/CurtisLemaysThirdAlt Feb 04 '23
Clemenceau once said memes were too important to be left to the generals. He might’ve been right a hundred years ago when he said that. But right now memes are too important to be left to politicians.
They have neither the time, training, nor inclination for memetic thought.
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u/AdNo4547 Feb 04 '23
The jets flew over my house I was on 90 when I got sight of the balloon..
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u/FarewellSovereignty
Feb 04 '23
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I think the age of unarmed balloons is over now that jet fighters and missiles have shown themselves much superior in air combat.
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u/Coltand Feb 04 '23 •
Nah, I've played BTD. If you send enough balloons, you'll eventually overwhelm your enemies defenses!
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u/CalligrapherGreedy83 Feb 04 '23
and if you don’t you’ll be able to lag them out enough to make them quit
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u/braintrustinc Feb 04 '23 •
99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells, it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
The 99 red balloons go by
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u/FriedEggplant_99 Feb 04 '23
If only we had a supermonkey that shot laser beams out his eyes. Thankfully the balloon wasn’t made of lead.
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u/tuctrohs Feb 04 '23
I think they should have sent a world war I vintage biplane to shoot it down.
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u/canoeism Feb 04 '23
Balloon was at 50,000+ feet.
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u/tuctrohs Feb 04 '23
I guess it was a good call when they decided not to put me in charge of the Air Force.
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u/hannibal_fett Feb 04 '23
I still have faith in you, General.
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u/entreri22 Feb 04 '23
Hear me out. We put rocket on the vintage biplanes and have a sleeper plane.
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u/neutrilreddit Feb 04 '23
That's because you take so many backwards shortcuts, /u/tuctrohs
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u/Nopengnogain Feb 04 '23
Speak for yourself, I still have nightmares of hearing “Airship ready.” “Helium mix optimal”… Followed by an armada of Kirov Airships.
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u/CoachMorelandSmith Feb 04 '23
“The only way to stop a bad guy with a balloon is a good guy with a missile”
The head of the National Missile Association
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u/SlothOfDoom Feb 04 '23
China should send more so the US can get the first "balloon ace" fighter pilot since WW1. How can a Belgian have the most balloon kills?
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u/Gaijin_Monster Feb 04 '23
somehow balloon ace just doesn't have the same ring to it
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u/Toothlessdovahkin Feb 04 '23
The term “Balloon Ace” might inflate the egos of the Air Force Fighter Pilots too much.
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u/ThatsNotMyDogma
Feb 04 '23
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Nobody is asking the important question.
Did it go "Ppffffffffffffffffffttttttt" and fly around in crazy, random patterns?
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u/darknekolux Feb 04 '23
Or the longest fart noise in history
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u/link_dead Feb 04 '23
Fighter Aces through history:
WW1: "I shot down 5 Fokkers over hostile German airspace using only a front mounted machine gun"
WW2: "Shot down 5 BF-109's escorting bombers into Germany to take back Europe"
WW3: "I popped 5 balloons over North and sometimes South Carolina"
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u/sirry Feb 04 '23
In WW1 Frank Luke shot down 10 balloons (and 4 planes) in 8 days, is considered an ace and received the medal of honor. He's known as the Arizona Balloon Buster and the F-22s today went by FRANK0 and FRANK2
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u/immerc Feb 04 '23
WW3: "I popped 5 balloons over North and sometimes South Carolina"
...using $5m guided missiles.
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u/John_Bot Feb 04 '23
More like half a million tbf
And that's the retail price, the cost price is less
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u/Time4Red Feb 05 '23
I was going to say, AMRAAMs may be $500,000 at my local target, but I'm sure the government has some special discount.
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u/RareAnxiety2 Feb 05 '23
Given the runaway expenses in the army I expect negative discount.
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u/Ro-54
Feb 04 '23
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I kind of miss the balloon.
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u/Mozart33 Feb 05 '23
This is why we can’t have nice things. I doubt they’ll send us another.
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u/coswoofster Feb 04 '23
I figured this is what they were waiting for. To down it over sea and not land.
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u/Invictus23_ Feb 04 '23
Truly didn’t understand what was so hard about that for people to grasp.
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u/FingFrenchy Feb 04 '23
I know, you'd think all the 5 star reddit generals would have it all figured out...
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 04 '23
Or read any of the articles.
Literally every single article I have read has stated that the military officials advised against shooting it down because it posed an undue risk to civilians on the ground. "Undue" meaning even over mostly vacant areas, the slim possibility of hurting something or someone still outweighed the benefits.
And yet every god damn thread on Reddit has highly upvoted comments with people speculating why they hadn't shot it down.
It used to be a joke that nobody reads the articles on Reddit, but lately in this sub, nobody even fucking pretends to have read them anymore. Top comments will routinely be questions that the article answers explicitly. Nobody even seems to call it out anymore, either. It's now shamelessly and openly a race to comment on the title first, and everyone seems to have just accepted that. It's fucking psychotic.
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u/parkerfd9dy Feb 04 '23
Anyone know what jet they used?
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u/141_1337 Feb 04 '23
F-22 Raptor
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u/flex674 Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 05 '23
I watched a f-22 escort a Cessna. Watching it bank and seeing those afterburners is truly a sight to see.
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u/Cash907 Feb 04 '23
Something those pilots love to do whenever given the chance is show off the 22’s vectored thrust and high rate of climb. Was at an aviation day event at SeaTac a couple years back when one was on display, and at the end of the event when they had to return it to the airfield, the pilot took his time taxiing, but as soon as he got clearance he took off, quickly jumping in the air long enough to retract his gear, kicked that thing in its tail and opened the throttle. Coolest damn thing I’ve ever seen in 40 years and I was so, so jealous of anyone that’s had the chance to fly something like that.
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u/vikingcock Feb 04 '23
They had to put a minimum altitude to do that maneuver after a pilot slapped the deck with the HTs.
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u/Cash907 Feb 04 '23
Lol I heard about that. This was at least a decade ago and he was very much much showing off. He was in the air skimming the ground at maybe 20 feet until the gear was secure, and in a blink that aircraft pivoted like it was on a gimbal and shot up like a rocket. We all just stood in shock as the pressure wave and sound overtook us and then cheered louder than a rock concert. There’s seeing on paper what the Raptor can do, and then there’s seeing it first hand. I’ll never forget it.
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u/radome9 Feb 04 '23
I would have thought the max speed of a Cessna is quite a bit slower than the min speed of an F22.
Source: I have flown a Cessna
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u/reap3rx Feb 04 '23
Most likely they were doing 360s to stay near it. I saw F16s escort a NORDO Bonanza or something over Long Island and that's what they had to do. Maybe F22s can go slower but it doesn't seem likely.
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u/5kyl3r Feb 04 '23
they can fly slower than a cessna, but they're nearly vertical and relying on thrust vectoring to stay aloft at that point (they do it at airshows where it's creeping by at a snail's pace, and you can see the elevons moving around to keep the plane stable)
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u/EAP007 Feb 04 '23
Seems stall speed is 160-180…. So it can’t fly side by side of a Cessna 172. A Cessna citation however :-)
https://www.highskyflying.com/how-slow-can-a-fighter-jet-fly-whats-the-stall-speed-of-jet-fighters/
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u/diezel_dave Feb 04 '23
Stall speed in normal flight for sure. If they wanted to they could fly next to a Cessna at a very high AoA and high thrust at a very slow ground speed.
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u/SeaGriz Feb 04 '23
I saw an F22 in an air show vector thrust and literally hover while rotating
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u/141_1337 Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 05 '23
Can y'all believe this is the first confirmed aerial kill for the entire F-22 raptor fleet?
Edit: Holy shit this is my most upvoted comment, shoutout to the peeps at r/noncredibledefense
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u/Biomas Feb 04 '23
can't wait to see pictures of the f-22 with a balloon victory mark
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u/IrishRage42 Feb 04 '23
I'd lose faith in our service members if they didn't do this.
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u/Kolob_Hikes Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 05 '23
Air Force put a cow on an A-10 for a confirmed kill. It better put a balloon on the F-22. Maybe a raptor dinosaur with a balloon tied to its hand
Edit: didn't expect this comment to take off. Corrected spelling of air force and dinosaur
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u/Artisanal_Shitposter Feb 04 '23
There's some wild history in air combat. That's one of the crazier ones for sure. Here's a couple others.
The F-15 E Strike Eagle has only one air-to-air kill to date, using a 500 pound bomb to destroy an airborne helicopter during Desert Storm.
There was and American a pilot during WW2 that had a confirmed kill against Germany, Japan, Italy, and the US. He shot down an American transport plane that had lost their radio and bearings during a storm, and was about to land at a Japanese airfield by mistake. He took out the engines but did not damage the control surfaces, allowing the plane to safely ditch into the ocean. He then reported the location and the Navy picked them up. By pure chance his girlfriend was aboard the plane he shot down.
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u/Koa_Niolo Feb 05 '23 edited Feb 05 '23
I've heard a claim of a C-46 that shot down a fighter during WWII. The C-46 was flying over "The Hump" (Himilayas) to run supplies to China. The plane got jumped by a Ki-43 Oscar, so the pilot grapped a BAR, stuck his head out the window and shot the Japanese pilot down.
Edit: and the pilot who shot down the C-47 was loitering to protect a downed pilot from his squadron and guide in a rescue plane when it arrived. He then spotted the C-47 and forced it down. On board was 2 nurses, one of whom he had taken on a date the night prior. He married her after the war. Oh and his Squadron mate swam over and boarded the C-47s liferaft.
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u/TricksterPriestJace Feb 05 '23
There was an RAF pilot who flew a Spitfire that had the guns replaced with a camera so he could fly reconnaissance. He became an ace by forcing other planes to ditch or crash on five occasions.
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u/EverybodyKnowWar Feb 04 '23
So was it a mistake or a miss steak?
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u/BroBroMate Feb 04 '23 •
Was the cow a Mooslim terrorist or something?
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u/GuidotheGreater Feb 04 '23
It was the Tutorial mission.
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u/Reaper7412 Feb 04 '23
Lmao the intro ace combat missions
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u/PrrrromotionGiven1 Feb 04 '23
Next Ace Combat needs to have you shoot down a balloon in the tutorial lmao. Would be a great callout.
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u/remoTheRope Feb 04 '23
<<Got a simple mission for you Pilot with the Three Strikes>>
<<Shoot down this weather balloon>>
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u/JustsomeOKCguy Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 05 '23
"Great! No need to bring a dogfighting focused jet then!"
<<Latin music starts playing>>
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u/peteygooze Feb 04 '23
I can, only because any country with an ounce of common sense would never try to go toe to toe with the f-22
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u/Matarys Feb 04 '23
What’s so good about it? For someone that doesn’t know that kind of stuff
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u/fearthisbeard Feb 04 '23
Classic story for the F22
https://theaviationist.com/2013/09/19/f-22-f-4-intercept/
“He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home'”
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u/bend1310 Feb 04 '23
Man that's great.
I did like the article asked why the pilot did it, and not a more standard approach.
Seems like there's a lot of value in demonstrating the level of air superiority at hand in a non-violent encounter. Spooks the opposing forces and makes them a lot warier.
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u/ExpertConsideration8 Feb 04 '23
In military training exercises, a single f22 can beat 6 f15s. Considering that the f15 has never lost in aerial combat in actual conflict.. it's like 200 confirmed kills to 0 in it's history.. the fact that 6 of them can't beat a single f22 is crazy.
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u/ELB2001 Feb 04 '23
They didn't even spot it until it had locked on to them. And they only spotted it with their eyes when it flew passed them
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u/chiksahlube Feb 04 '23
Was at red flag in 2015 with the F15s.
The got their asses WHOOPED by the 35s and 22s. Both at range and in dog fights.
The pilots described the things those planes can do like someone describes a unicorn or bigfoot. They couldn't believe what they'd seen with their own eyes even after they landed.
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u/Red_Rum13 Feb 04 '23
Currently at Red Flag and yes, the 22s have been beating ass the entire exercise
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u/FixFalcon Feb 04 '23
I was an F16 crew chief at Northern Edge Alaska in '06. The F22s were picking our pilots off as soon as their wheels left the ground.
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u/Caelinus Feb 04 '23
If I recall correctly, the Su-57 was designed with the F22 in mind, as the F22 was utterly terrifying and set a scary benchmark to meet.
Then it became either impossible to almost impossible to build something to similar specs, so they have only managed to manufacture like 20ish of them, and their combat performance is not yet demonstrated in most important scenarios. All while the US made 200 ish F22s and like 900 F35s.
It was kind of ludicrous how many people I saw saying that Russia could handle the US in open combat prior to the Ukrainian invasion. They would have immediately lost air superiority, and then the backbone of their entire military (their train network and armored divisions) would have been ripped apart in a day.
I think people underestimate how much technology the US can buy and develop with it's budget. Even with extreme inefficiencies in the system it is still enough to do a lot.
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u/Doggydog123579 Feb 04 '23
The Air Force brings out F-22s when they want to seal club.
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u/Ktan_Dantaktee Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 04 '23
Most aircraft will be shot down before they even know the F-22 is there, let alone that they’re in an engagement
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u/SuedeVeil Feb 04 '23
Pfft Well, I bet Tom Cruise can in a dusty old F-14 tomcat !
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u/livlaffluv420 Feb 04 '23
Top Gun: Maverick - “Remember kid: it’s not the plane, it’s the pilot! This isn’t what we trained for, this is what we live for - it’s about family! It’s about honor! It isn’t duty if you don’t sacrifice everything to defeating your opponent, & that sheer will to fight & survive will be the greatest weapon in your arsenal when you’re strapped in totally outmanned, outgunned & outmaneuvered pulling 10”
Real Life - “Remember kid: it’s not the plane, it’s th—“
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u/political_bot Feb 04 '23
There's a bunch of technical reasons I don't understand. But the gist is that Lockheed Martin is really good at building planes, and the US government gives them a bunch of money to do so.
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u/wobwobwubwub Feb 04 '23
It’s so good that we won’t sell it or any of the technology in it to even our closest allies. It apparently has the a radar signature similar to a small bird from miles away. Which means it’s essentially invisible from radar
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u/Don11390 Feb 04 '23
Lol, Australia kept saying a while back that they were totally for real buying F-22s, and the US always responded with the diplomatic version of "No you fucking ain't". They're getting F-35s though, which explains why they stopped asking.
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u/u9Nails Feb 04 '23
When your radar finds a golf ball cruising the skies at mach 2, you know it's Lockheed Martin.
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u/Chef_lonleyliver Feb 04 '23
They also sponsor a college football bowl game which I think is fucking hilarious.
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u/ShrimpFriedMyRice Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 04 '23
Not just really good, like so good that every country on earth wants their planes. So good that the F15 is undefeated in aerial combat.
And that plane is probably 50 years old at this point. Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics are the absolute best when it comes to military aircraft. And Boeing. I get it
Edit: I get it. F-15 is Boeing. F16 and F22 are LM. Still a comment on American air superiority.
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u/JustaRandomOldGuy Feb 04 '23
The B-52 might hit a 100 year service life.
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Feb 04 '23 edited 20d ago
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u/jaurenq Feb 04 '23
The book Psychohistorical Crisis takes place around 60k AD; the only things on earth that are recognizable are the pyramids, and a B-52 that they get flying again.
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u/JustaRandomOldGuy Feb 04 '23
And it's still getting upgrades
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u/redev Feb 04 '23
Wow, I learned something new today. The B-52 was already a monster, I didn’t know they are now on the “H” revision of it. It’s basically a whole new plane on the same frame. Crazy.
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u/SusanForeman Feb 04 '23
Had an engineer friend that worked at LM. She said she spent 3 years of her career doing FEA on a single screw on a wing of an aircraft. They take their shit seriously.
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u/alphabeticdisorder Feb 04 '23
This isn't due to just plane technology, though. US doctrine of establishing air supremacy severely limits any air to air engagements warplanes could get into.
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u/CaptInappropriate Feb 04 '23
yeah, we’re not trying to fight a fair fight, that would be fucking stupid
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u/Bay1Bri Feb 04 '23
"in a fair fight, I'd kill you;"
"Well that's not much incentive for me to fight fair, is it?"
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u/____DEAFPOOL____ Feb 04 '23
One thing I was always taught in the military was to always bring a gun to a knife fight.
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u/Martin_Aurelius Feb 04 '23
"If you're fighting with bayonets I've got nothing to teach you, you've already fucked up a hundred things to get to that point"
- Bayonet Instructor, MCRD San Diego, circa 2000AD
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u/peteygooze Feb 04 '23
Stealth, speed, agility, maneuverability, situational awareness and the missiles it can carry. Lots of reading and videos available, plenty out there to read that will give a better explanation then I ever could.
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u/nildecaf Feb 04 '23
So does the poor pilot that had to do this job end up with a new call sign (Balloon?) for the rest of his time in the AF?
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u/ChillyWillie1974 Feb 04 '23
For the first time in history, the U.S. government said it’s not a weather balloon.
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u/john_the_quain
Feb 04 '23
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Hold on. I’m updating my notes to remind me to be outraged that they shot it down instead of being outraged they haven’t.
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u/Upbeat_Orchid2742 Feb 04 '23
I mean it’s Definitely possible to have that opinion swap here. The easiest point is to say “why did they let it cross Mainland USA and collect/distribute whatever it saw?”
The previous responses I’ve seen have stated “the us is getting More from intercepting Data and the info China would get from testing our defenses was More precious so it s better we don’t respond”
So if we were always going To shoot it down, why didn’t we do it sooner?
Probably to prevent a potential environmental or civilian disaster event and to be cool handed on the world stage. displaying an absolute lack of panic, appropriate use of force in a way that most values the lives of our citizens because we feel assured nothing of value was lost/gained
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u/ThatsNotMyDogma Feb 04 '23
“why did they let it cross Mainland USA and collect/distribute whatever it saw?”
I said something similar, and it was pointed out to me that potentially, the US military may have ways of blocking signals to and from a balloon, even at that altitude.
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Feb 04 '23
I feel that they would've taken quick action if the information they were gathering was a serious threat. I'm wondering why a balloon. They already have satellites and TikTok.
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u/AbundantFailure Feb 04 '23
The US, even with it's EXTENSIVE array of military satellites, still employs spy balloons as well.
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u/Reselects420 Feb 04 '23
I think they hit the balloon with a non explosive missile https://twitter.com/KCChiefs__/status/1621957998200459268?s=20&t=9diJxkLQG7Tbks9BqDIZYw
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u/fatandlean Feb 04 '23
Did a bunch of candy come out?
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u/Jedi_Master_Baggins Feb 04 '23
Nah, just a bunch of glowing gas. I’m sure it’s harmless.
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u/Infinaris Feb 04 '23
Likely they wanted to wait till it was over a water body not only to prevent it hitting anyone on the ground but forcing it down on the ocean greatly increases their chances of salvaging the equipment.
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u/MLockeTM Feb 04 '23
This would've been a great chance to test out that Jewish space laser.
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u/valgrind_error Feb 04 '23
So we are literally just playing a game of bloons with the PRC
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Feb 04 '23 edited Feb 05 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/certainlyforgetful Feb 05 '23 •
The balloon wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for inflation.
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u/r3xu5 Feb 04 '23
China just became the F22 Raptor's first air to air kill.
Congrats!
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u/bobthebobofbob Feb 04 '23
I wonder how they chose who got to do it. That pilot is going to be bragging about that one for the rest of their lives.
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u/HandbananaThompson Feb 04 '23
If that pilot doesn’t get a balloon pin I’ll be highly dissatisfied.
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u/Leandro_sk Feb 04 '23
hey guys, i just lost the gender reveal ballon for my child, if someone find it please tell me or my wife will kill me, thanks.
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u/cdnhockeynut Feb 04 '23
Most action American F-22 pilots have had in a while