Seems that the Chinks have floated a “High Altitude Surveillance Balloon” across the United States.
Not sure why the Air Farce didn’t shoot it down when they had the chance, but now they are letting it pass because they are afraid it will fall on some poor unsuspecting person.
Apparently the thing has been floating over “Sensitive Sites” for a few days….and the military has allowed it.
But apparently this isn’t the first time, just the first we are hearing about it.
That’s why “The Big Guy” got his 10%, isn’t it?
Insurance.
I wonder if our Chinese ‘friends’ are pulling a diversion tactic, pulling surveillance resources which leave openings along the U.S. border ignored. Head on a swivel people.
more likely its ours. three to 5 of them are up all the time. this one was first discovered over canada, so maybe they didn’t want to embarrass castraue.
I believe the balloon was above FL600 (national airspace) so it becomes a political question on what to do about it as opposed to automatically shooting it down. Biden supposedly ordered the military to NOT shoot it down. The Chinese have satellites with equivalent capability. So does the US. It would be interesting to examine the instruments on the balloon. Grabbing / shooting the balloon down over Montana is much safer than doing so over more populous states further east. I do not see / have not read of the US military making any effort in that regard. Not even sure what tech to use to bring it down. A missile would fly right through the balloon. If the missile was armed, it would then crash into and explode on the ground below. Interesting reports indicated the balloon seems to be controllable. Google made a lot of progress in directionally controlling balloons. Looks like US tech coming home.
You might be right, but 6o,ooo feet is still well within the generally accepted airspace of the US. You gotta go out to 60 miles up before it is no longer considered national airspace. So the balloon is still well within US owned airspace.
I agree, we should have shot it down if it wasn’t identified, communicated with, and controlled.
china joe, bought n paid for.
More recent reports mention the balloon being at or about 60 000 feet. I had expected the balloon to be above that. To my understanding, 60 000 feet is about the maximum altitude of an F16, with guns. So, the balloon is within US airspace, no qualifications, within fighter range and we have weapons that can shoot it down. But we don’t. Glad we have top men working on it.