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So China is flying a balloon over Montana apparently..


atomicinumatt

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5 minutes ago, The_annoying_one said:

China Is Flyin’ A Balloon O’er Montana

I swear I’ve heard that country song somewhere before.

I would assume that if it is indeed China or a foreign adversary on some kind of surveillance mission, then they were probably over Montana and the area to monitor nuclear missile silo's haha but who knows. 

Could be a hoax or something too. 

But definitely sounds like something out of a country song.

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3 minutes ago, atomicinumatt said:

I would assume that if it is indeed China or a foreign adversary on some kind of surveillance mission, then they were probably over Montana and the area to monitor nuclear missile silo's haha but who knows. 

Could be a hoax or something too. 

But definitely sounds like something out of a country song.

I wasn’t trying to make light of such a potentially serious issue.

Sometimes, inappropriate jokes pour out of my mouth/fingers at the most inappropriate times. 🙁

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3 minutes ago, The_annoying_one said:

I wasn’t trying to make light of such a potentially serious issue.

Sometimes, inappropriate jokes pour out of my mouth/fingers at the most inappropriate times. 🙁

Haha I definitely posted this with a tinge of humor. It just seems silly to me. I also know it posses a NS risk though. 

Balloon spy haha just seems so silly. 

We should capture it!

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China is claiming that this is just a research balloon that got away from them. Which is hard to believe in the best of circumstances, but even less so considering Canada has said they believe to have spotted a 2nd balloon.

 

https://www.barrons.com/news/canada-says-potential-second-incident-linked-to-spy-balloon-01675402508

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27 minutes ago, Raptorpat said:

they can't shoot it down because it's filled with bees

There have been a couple of explanations floating around for why we actually havent shot it down yet.

1. It doesnt really do anything that a Chinese spy satellite can already do.

2. If they shoot it down now it may fall into a populated area in Montana

3. They are waiting until it is over a flatter area to shoot it down so its easier to retrieve whatever is on it

4. We are back-hacking it in real time so its better to just let it do its thing because we are using it as a way to spy on China

5. They are trying to figure out how to capture it instead of shooting it down.

 

Those are the big explanations Ive heard and seen floating around in news articles.

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2 hours ago, 1pooh4u said:

Thats why I dont fully believe that excuse. Its makes more sense to shoot it down once its over the plains where its easier to get to.

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1 hour ago, scoobdog said:

This seems like an awfully big deal being made about nothing.  Even if it is an espionage device, how is it better than, say, the satellites China had circling the globe that can no doubt do the same thing?

I dont really think this is a "nothing" sort of thing though. China is now flying their spy equipment through our airspace. Practically there is likely little to no difference between this and their spy satellites. But Functionally its a huge difference. Its a piece of Chinese military equipment within US airspace. Thats a clear incursion into our airspace. It would be like us flying spy planes over China. No way would that be OK.

 

The more nefarious one that Ive started to see this afternoon is that these could be dry runs for potential EMP attacks. A nuclear weapon detonated at that altitude would knock out all electronics in a multi-state area. Potentially including in our nuclear missile silos. Its a lot harder to spot one of these balloons than a ICBM. So if China wanted to either surprise us or we ever did get into a hot war with them they could float one of these balloons over and wipe out all electronics before we even knew what his us.

Edited by Master-Debater131
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14 minutes ago, Master-Debater131 said:

I dont really think this is a "nothing" sort of thing though. China is now flying their spy equipment through our airspace. Practically there is likely little to no difference between this and their spy satellites. But Functionally its a huge difference. Its a piece of Chinese military equipment within US airspace. Thats a clear incursion into our airspace. It would be like us flying spy planes over China. No way would that be OK.

 

The more nefarious one that Ive started to see this afternoon is that these could be dry runs for potential EMP attacks. A nuclear weapon detonated at that altitude would knock out all electronics in a multi-state area. Potentially including in our nuclear missile silos. Its a lot harder to spot one of these balloons than a ICBM. So if China wanted to either surprise us or we ever did get into a hot war with them they could float one of these balloons over and wipe out all electronics before we even knew what his us.

If you're referencing the Gary Powers incident, it's worth noting that flying high altitude spy missions happened in the years before satellites were sophisticated enough to do what those planes were doing.  How we would see a high altitude surveillance operation is drastically different after the advent of spy satellites than before.

As far as it being a weapon, it's practically useless in this day and age due to its lack of propulsion.  Weapon balloons became obsolete during WWII with the deployment of radar batteries, and they're even less useful with the advent of those same spy satellites and GPS in addition to more advanced radar.

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17 hours ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

Am disappointed they didn't shoot it down, take a photo op with the debris, and claim it was a UFO.

The entire state of Montana is kicking itself right now. 

You don't get tourist dollars if you are known for having armed hillbillies in the hills but aliens? So much tourist money with a slightly less chance of anal injury. 

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Just now, scoobdog said:

If you're referencing the Gary Powers incident, it's worth noting that flying high altitude spy missions happened in the years before satellites were sophisticated enough to do what those planes were doing.  How we would see a high altitude surveillance operation is drastically different after the advent of spy satellites than before.

As far as it being a weapon, it's practically useless in this day and age due to its lack of propulsion.  Weapon balloons became obsolete during WWII with the deployment of radar batteries, and they're even less useful with the advent of those same spy satellites and GPS in addition to more advanced radar.

I wasnt really referencing a specific incident. More just saying that flying through other countries airspace is a pretty big no-no.

 

Im not so sure that its useless. We know generally where winds take stuff. And it is very hard to see these balloons at that altitude. EMPs arent precision weapons. If China, or anyone for that matter, wanted to cause a lot of chaos over a widespread area they would just have to get one of these balloons into the rough vicinity of their target. China wants to take Taiwan, badly. They also know that if they do it through their military we are probably going to war with them. They could float a few of these EMPs over our country before they attack Taiwan, detonate them, and then watch as we deal with a ton of internal chaos as China invades Taiwan. Thats a pretty grim thought, and probably not that likely, but its still a possibility.

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22 minutes ago, The_annoying_one said:

I have a question. This may seem like a joke, but it’s really not.

What the hell are they expecting to find in Montana? I mean, I’ve never been anywhere near the state, and even I know there’s probably nothing of note there.

Just my random two cents… 
 

General, solid roads in areas that wouldn't normally have roads, satellite dishes or other obvious indicators of underground bunkers that need access to something other than shortwave radio to transmit or receive data and if there's more than a single such area in the middle of nowhere since we have a single known missile silo in there. 

They don't need to scoot over ND because Pence was nice enough to post actual photos of one of our underground military set-ups on frickin' social media for MAGAt points. :| 

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There are apparently plenty of ballistic missile silos in Montana, I guess because it's easy to keep them from prying eyes in a giant state where cows outnumber people.

And one article I read earlier today pointed out that a high-altitude balloon has a benefit that a spy satellite doesn't: linger time. If you can actively adjust its altitude, you can potentially take advantage of wind patterns and have it hang around the same area for days or weeks at a time.

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5 hours ago, scoobdog said:

This seems like an awfully big deal being made about nothing.  Even if it is an espionage device, how is it better than, say, the satellites China had circling the globe that can no doubt do the same thing?

I just found the whole headline funny when I first saw it and thought I would share. 

There is indeed a slight NS risk because balloons can operate at a much lower altitude than a satellite, so they can get better resolution imagery. But yes, Satellites are pretty proficient in that area already.

Their is the off chance that it could be equipped with some kind of payload as well. But that is doubtful. 

I just find the whole thing daft haha very China of them to send 'spy balloons'. What is this, the 1930's?

Edited by atomicinumatt
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2 hours ago, Master-Debater131 said:

I wasnt really referencing a specific incident. More just saying that flying through other countries airspace is a pretty big no-no.

I think US Class A Airspace ends around 60K feet altitude, and balloons can operate at much higher altitudes than that. 

Not sure how high this balloon over Montana was. 

Edited by atomicinumatt
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6 hours ago, Poofy said:

People have a hard time believing theyd ever team up

Haha IDk about Iran, but China and Russia certainly enable and facilitate North Korea's economy to an extent!

But if there was a WWIII, those four would certainly form an Axis. Who knows how stable and lasting it would be though

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55 minutes ago, 1pooh4u said:

Apparently China isn’t happy that we shot it down and is saying they’ll do the same 

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/02/04/asia/beijing-reacts-us-jets-shoot-chinese-spy-balloon-intl-hnk/index.html

When we use balloons for spy flyovers please do. Because it means someone is trolling.

I suggest using one of those ugly inflat-a-Trumps.

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