Pentagon Tracking Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Over the US

[gassprint1]

There is a bunch of things that doesn't make sense.
If launched from China, it would have flown over Japan & Russia before it got to us.
You think they would have said something about that thing floating over their airspace.
Unless it was launched out at sea off a sub.
Then there is the fact that if it was detected over Alaskan airspace, you had to know where the airstream at that altitude was going.
It wasn't going back to the west for sure.
Too much shenanigans going on right now.

Lots of things and the most important question people should be asking, if this balloon is no threat...then why is the government hiding intel they have along with closeup pics of the pay load?

 

[SEIndSAM]

F-22A Raptor from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB. Used an AIM-9 Sidewinder (heat-seeker, been around forever.)

F-22 fighter jet, heat-seeking missile used to shoot down Chinese spy balloon | Fox News Video

Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson joins 'Fox News Live' with the latest on a Chinese spy balloon being shot down by the U.S. military while hovering off the South Carolina coast.

www.foxnews.com

 

[FNparabellum]

Yea id like to hope they have a plan or something but the way things have been ran i doubt it

 

[Wolfhound]

From the videos I've seen, it looks like the missile hit the balloon and not the payload.

F-22A Raptor from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB. Used an AIM-9 Sidewinder (heat-seeker, been around forever.)

F-22 fighter jet, heat-seeking missile used to shoot down Chinese spy balloon | Fox News Video

Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson joins 'Fox News Live' with the latest on a Chinese spy balloon being shot down by the U.S. military while hovering off the South Carolina coast.

www.foxnews.com

Serious question. What would a heat seeking missile lock onto with a helium or hydrogen balloon and a solar array?

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Lots of things and the most important question people should be asking, if this balloon is no threat...then why is the government hiding intel they have along with closeup pics of the pay load?

What? There have been close up pics posted here in this thread.

 

[KG1]

Biden says he gave the order to shoot it down on Wednesday and it was his military advisers that made the call to wait.

Should be interesting what the military heads have to say about the decision-making process. Surely, they will get questioned about why it was delayed and if Biden was part of the decision making to wait after he gave the ok on Wednesday. It initially has the appearance that Biden was a little bit ticked and is directing any criticism toward the military brass for the delay. "I told them to do it on Wednesday!"

 

[gassprint1]

What? There have been close up pics posted here in this thread.

No there isn't...and the government needs to release those pics no before they change the pics to something else that its not. In the end, thats what will happen just to keep their china spy thing going.

 

[BigMoose]

F-22A Raptor from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB. Used an AIM-9 Sidewinder (heat-seeker, been around forever.)

F-22 fighter jet, heat-seeking missile used to shoot down Chinese spy balloon | Fox News Video

Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson joins 'Fox News Live' with the latest on a Chinese spy balloon being shot down by the U.S. military while hovering off the South Carolina coast.

www.foxnews.com

Gotta love the sidewinder.. though being a baloon, I am surprised they didn't just hose it down with the M61

Also first Raptor air to air kill?

 

[Lmo1131]

They had three f’n days to drop this thing, then the missile appears to hit the instrumentation pod instead of bursting the balloon (turning any information that we might have been able to glean into confetti) and THEN what’s left falls into the Atlantic… Joe is crowing like an idiot and some USAF mucky muck will get credit for protecting our sovereignty… This is starting to make the Afghanistan shtshow look like a well planned operation.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

No there isn't...and the government needs to release those pics no before they change the pics to something else that its not. In the end, thats what will happen just to keep their china spy thing going.

Posts #170 and then this from #178:

 

[BigMoose]

Serious question. What would a heat seeking missile lock onto with a helium or hydrogen balloon and a solar array?

The newest AIM-9X can lock onto anything that has -some- heat, the sun is shining on it and warming it up.. thats enough.

No way though one of the Vietnam era sidewinders was locking onto that thing though.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

And here's the pic from post #170:

 

[BigMoose]

They had three f’n days to drop this thing, then the missile appears to hit the instrumentation pod instead of bursting the balloon (turning any information that we might have been able to glean into confetti) and THEN what’s left falls into the Atlantic… Joe is crowing like an idiot and some USAF mucky muck will get credit for protecting our sovereignty… This is starting to make the Afghanistan shtshow look like a well planned operation.

Its a sidewinder, it was going to lock onto whatever was making the most heat..

You can say what you want, but its kaboom.. and without dumping school bus sized objects all over.

 

[BigMoose]

Also be glad they just used a $200,000 AIM-9 sidewinder, and didn't burn a million dollar AIM-120 AMRAAM
The good ole Fox 2

Seriously though, they should have hosed it down with the M61 20MM, though maybe that would have just poked a million holes in it.

 

[bwframe]

It's difficult to believe that in 2023 we don't have some sort of contraption, radio or human piloted, that couldn't fly in and take the important components from a spy balloon?

 

[HoosierLife]

They could have done that over Montana or Alaska anytime…

 

[bwframe]

This is concerning. It looks really really bad for us...

 

[Lmo1131]

You can say what you want, but its kaboom.. and without dumping school bus sized objects all over.

The only thing that was ‘school bus sized’ was the balloon. If had used some finesse in downing it we could have gotten valuable intel from it; was it all Chinese components, was any U.S. technology duplicated, what sensing equipment was on board, how was this thing steered, what power source was utilized (which might indicate how long it was aloft (which in turn might give us a clue about its launch site (submarine?))). Know what l’m sayin’ here?

Who is hiding what from us?

 

[gassprint1]

And here's the pic from post #170:

View attachment 252958

Yea, not the same balloon, so i doubt either of those pics are it.

 

[gassprint1]

The only thing that was ‘school bus sized’ was the balloon. If had used some finesse in downing it we could have gotten valuable intel from it; was it all Chinese components, was any U.S. technology duplicated, what sensing equipment was on board, how was this thing steered, what power source was utilized (which might indicate how long it was aloft (which in turn might give us a clue about its launch site (submarine?))). Know what l’m sayin’ here?

Who is hiding what from us?

Exactly, what is the us government hiding. A few 50 cal rounds or whatever caliber is used in these jets these days..idk... could have created slow leaks in balloon to possibly bring it down whole.