its a spy ballon I don't even judge China for using them, it is a part of the game and getting pissy about it is imature and petty. But I dislike being openly lied to.
Breaking News US tracking suspected Chinese surveillance balloon
- Thread starter Robovski
- Start date
its a spy ballon I don't even judge China for using them, it is a part of the game and getting pissy about it is imature and petty. But I dislike being openly lied to.
bintananth
behind a desk
They're all lying to us ...
It's not an errant weather balloon or a spy balloon. Per Air Force recognition manuals it's actually Chinese swamp gas. 😝
/obligatory
The Balloon Has Been Downed over the Atlantic Ocean
www.foxnews.com
America's long national nightmare is over. The stain of Afghanistan washed away. Without a doubt Biden has proven he is the War President America needs.
US military shoots down Chinese spy balloon over Atlantic Ocean
The Chinese spy balloon has been shot down by the U.S. military while it was hovering over the Atlantic Ocean off of the South Carolina coast on Saturday afternoon.
www.foxnews.com
America's long national nightmare is over. The stain of Afghanistan washed away. Without a doubt Biden has proven he is the War President America needs.
"Welcome to Myrtle Beach You Commie Sonofabitch! The Last Domino Falls Here!" 😎
BOOM!
I will admit, using an AIM-26 Nuclear Air to Air Missile to Destroy the ChiCom Balloon was probably a bit much, but if it wasn't used, then it'd of been sunk cost if we never used them.
BOOM!
I will admit, using an AIM-26 Nuclear Air to Air Missile to Destroy the ChiCom Balloon was probably a bit much, but if it wasn't used, then it'd of been sunk cost if we never used them.
prinCZess
Warrior, Writer, Performer, Perv
No more shall Americans have to gaze at the sky in horror. No more will Americans look up to see foreign surveillance machines above them, watching their every move. Now, those machines will be American, and thanks to buckets of spending on military-industrial programs and intelligence agencies, they will be less immediately perceptible to the naked eye.
Just like the bird-drones that eeeeggggaaahhhhh
Megadeath
Well-known member
Wow... We went from "Biden is a cuck because he won't shoot it down." to "Wow, look at Biden waste money shooting it down for attention." 🙄
I don't care if China made the damn thing out of bamboo and excrement it isn't American doesn't have authorization to be flown over the U.S. and likely has transmitted data to China.
Hell, for all we know the damn thing could have contained an EMP device as unlikely as that is my main gripe is that it wasn't shot down sooner and was able to clear CONUS without hinderance.
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stephen the barbarian
Well-known member
and the f22 finaly has an ata kill to brag about.
Yeah. Because he waited for it to pass over the entire country and complete its mission before shooting it down.
Who gives a flying fuck if he shot it down after it's already done it's job.
This was all a good reason to shoot it down as soon as it was discovered. Which is what should have happened.
They waited for it to cross the entire country and do what it was sent to to first. Which is completely and utterly pathetic.
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Megadeath
Well-known member
Or... They knew exactly what it was "seeing" and therefore it saw only and exactly what they wanted to show off. After they finished with hand feeding whatever they wanted to China, whilst monitoring how it surveilled and communicated, they shot it down somewhere truly and completely safe and scored some debris for analysis.
What, exactly, do you think China could have gotten from this? I would love the most serious and detailed answer you can give. They went over some missle sites... So they probably have slightly better resolution optics than they did from the many satellite shots. But, what does looking at the site in 1080 get them that 720 doesn't? They could monitor electronic signals... But, do you think the armed forces are in the habit of beaming sensitive information cross country in the clear, on their home ground with established infrastructure? Do you think they're firing up every radar, jammer and EW suite in the flight path to give China the opportunity to sniff at them, or do you think when it's known the enemy are right there, that they practice basic emissions control?
Do you not see that the US gains more from monitoring the balloons own communications, from revealing whatever capabilities they want China to see, and from collecting whatever they can from a softer splash down?
The biggest thing they gain is a moral/propaganda victory. They just embarrassed the US on a global stage, and the US made itself look weak. They were doing this to test our resolve, and a
We showed them that we will bend over for them. I doubt it was so much about getting Intel, but to see how far they can push us, and our response was, "we will let you complete your mission before we do anything about it."
I doubt they gathered anything useful, and I doubt we will gain anything useful by salvaging it.
The right move was to send the message, "fuck around and find out," and shoot that thing down as soon as it touched our airspace.
Megadeath
Well-known member
I disagree. As a foreigner, my opinion certainly didn't shift negatively as a result of this. I suspect that's only more true for friendly foreign governments. They showed that they won't take rash and pointless action when there's even a small risk of endangering their populace, and when there's something to be gained from not doing it. I suppose other countries already inclined against the US might snicker about it behind their hands, but frankly who cares what Iran thinks? Certainly it should weigh less than the (admittedly minor) advantages I've listed.
If anything, I think more governments that actually matter to American foreign policy would take a more negative view if they did start popping off at the first minor provocation. America are the most powerful nation on earth by a large stretch, everyone prefers it when that strength is tempered with caution and consideration, rather than ruled by wounded pride or a need to grandstand. China could certainly have played up an over zealous response as America swinging hay-makers at shadows, when obviously it was just a weather balloon, and oh did you hear they covered up the wreckage smashed into some farm and did $xyz property damage? It's just a rumour it killed the farmer's daughter of course, but you never know with those crazy Americans.
Yes, we should have shot it down before it even made it to the Aleutians.
However, we didn't, and downing it over land carried risks that downing it over water doesn't.
And no, the middle of Montana is not as undeveloped and unpopulated as some people think, and also frankly, downing over land is a much, much harder clean up than fishing it out of the ocean.
gral
Well-known member
Recent years? They sent a ballon over Philippine airspace not even two months ago!
. . . yeah... you give the Federal government much to much competence on basic IT security measures. I honestly cannot give details, but you'd never trust the Feds with anything data related if you had similar knowledge to what I have...
Megadeath
Well-known member
Oh, no, in a general sense I expect them to be bumbling at best. But, specifically the armed forces, and when they're specifically responding to a situation that pretty much certainly they've considered in the past and have a plan for, I would expect that they'd be competent enough.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
I'm somewhat amused at just how much cope, even here on this thread, revolved around "They didn't shoot down the balloon because they wanted to take it intact to study it" followed by the US shooting down once it was guaranteed it would fall into the ocean and be lost instead.
The US had already got ships on scene as of yesterday, so recovery is likely underway for whatever is left after the hit and drop.