Commissar SFLUFAN Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 Suspected Chinese spy balloon found over northern U.S. WWW.NBCNEWS.COM “The United States government ... is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now," said a Pentagon spokesperson. Quote The U.S. military has been monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern U.S. for the past few days, and military and defense leaders have discussed shooting it out of the sky, according to two U.S. officials and a senior defense official. “The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told NBC News. “We continue to track and monitor it closely.” “Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” Ryder said. The high-altitude balloon was spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday. It flew over the Aleutian Islands, through Canada, and into Montana. A senior defense official said the balloon is still over the U.S. but declined to say where it is now. On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of senior military and defense leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck, and other combatant commanders. Picture of the intruder over Billings, MT: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TUFKAK Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 It’s in Montana so nothing important was exposed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 8 minutes ago, TUFKAK said: It’s in Montana so nothing important was exposed There are the 150 ICBMs at Malmstrom AFB, but everyone knows about those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TUFKAK Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said: There are the 150 ICBMs at Malmstrom AFB, but everyone knows about those. Google earth can probably give precise coordinates to those. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mclumber1 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Shoot it down. It's violating American airspace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 So here's the problem with the balloon We knew it was here for a while. It came through Alaska, flew through Canada, and entered airspace over Montana. F-22s tracked it over Alaska. At no point did we ever choose to shoot it down, or was it ordered shot down. So why didn't we shoot it down before now? Montana isn't all that densely populated, but it is moreso compared to Alaska or western Canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unogueen Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 mebbe it's aliens. Don't want none of that do you? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 16 minutes ago, CayceG said: So here's the problem with the balloon We knew it was here for a while. It came through Alaska, flew through Canada, and entered airspace over Montana. F-22s tracked it over Alaska. At no point did we ever choose to shoot it down, or was it ordered shot down. So why didn't we shoot it down before now? Montana isn't all that densely populated, but it is moreso compared to Alaska or western Canada. I'm at a loss to explain that as well. It's in our bloody airspace so we're well within our rights to eliminate it. The only thing I can think of is that the DoD is hoping that it comes down on its own so we can examine its technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwheel86 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 33 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said: I'm at a loss to explain that as well. It's in our bloody airspace so we're well within our rights to eliminate it. The only thing I can think of is that the DoD is hoping that it comes down on its own so we can examine its technology. DARPA rushing out a balloon pin prick version of AIM-120? I did hear speculation that if we shoot it down China will feel justified knocking down our aircraft in what they deem as "their airspace". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 minutes ago, Jwheel86 said: I did hear speculation that if we shoot it down China will feel justified knocking down our aircraft in what they deem as "their airspace". I'm sure that is a consideration, but one to which I say, "So the hell what?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unogueen Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 What's a balloon gonna do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Collect imagery that is higher resolution than satellites, signals intelligence, or other types of electronic espionage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unogueen Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 So a samsung galaxy s22. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 How fast do you think we can make a Winnie the Pooh crop circle?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unogueen Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 I've said this many times. Winnie the pooh isn't praxis. Try harassing your power structure for once. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Maybe the point is justifying other actions to the American public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 8 minutes ago, Anathema- said: Maybe the point is justifying other actions to the American public. It's not an op. We haven't shot it down in part due to the safety involved. The other part is because... at more than 60,000 ft in altitude, we simply can't reach it. What we can reach it with would cause aforementioned safety issues. The question as to why we didn't shoot it down before is open. But in previous instances when something like this has happened in Canada, the RCAF put 1,000 rounds of cannon fire into a balloon and it stayed up for another week because it doesn't pop. It leaks. And the air is thin enough to where the balloon skin acts as an air foil to keep it aloft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ort Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 The right wing outrage factory is treating this like we're in the opening scene of Red Dawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mclumber1 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 The Balloon has overflown my city. No ill effects from surveillance, EMPs, or other ChiCom plots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneticBlueprint Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 3 minutes ago, CayceG said: The Balloon has overflown my city. No ill effects from surveillance, EMPs, or other ChiCom plots. That you know of! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 20 minutes ago, CayceG said: The Balloon has overflown my city. No ill effects from surveillance, EMPs, or other ChiCom plots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Lots of Republican outrage that Canada didn't shoot it down...despite it having already flown over Alaska. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 This is a shot of the balloon taken over WASHINGTON DC Washington, Missouri (lol, not DC) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal-El814 Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 53 minutes ago, CayceG said: This is a shot of the balloon taken over WASHINGTON DC Looked at the watermark and thought it said Taylor Swift like damn what can't she do. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 5 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said: Looked at the watermark and thought it said Taylor Swift like damn what can't she do. Shoot down the balloon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anathema- Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 the balloonening 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5timechamp Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 maybe its just crop dusting bits if Super Covid… just super germ warfare.. nothing serious… cant we just float a fat baby Trump balloon over China? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Kal-El814 said: Looked at the watermark and thought it said Taylor Swift like damn what can't she do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSpreader Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 (btw my sister in law looks exactly like her) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jwheel86 Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Ah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CayceG Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 That ls literally my part of Tennessee. I live in Nashville. My hometown is about 2/3 of the way east on the RC-135's racetrack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricofoley Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Everybody's jumping to the most sinister possible explanation. Maybe China just wants to get really good at GeoGuesser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unogueen Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 They have satellites. Your spooks are paying off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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