Burning Man
Super Anarchist
Maybe the payload was Hunter's laptop. There's your answer for why they shot it with a missile rather than use the gun to deflate the balloon. Coverup?
Balloon spy
- Thread starter Lark
- Start date
Dog 2.0
Super Anarchist
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Pilot reports "large white balloon" floating near Hawaii
It's unclear what the balloon is and what, if any, risk it actually poses.
www.newsweek.com
Rasputin22
Rasputin22
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Talchotali
Capt. Marvel's Wise Friend
Source: the Pentagon
Courtesy Politico:
The Pentagon on Wednesday confirmed the authenticity of a photo depicting an Air Force U-2 pilot taking a selfie with the Chinese spy balloon in the background in early February, one day before it was shot down off the East Coast of the U.S.
Journalist and author Chris Pocock posted the image on Tuesday, raising questions as to whether the photo, giving a startling view of the infamous surveillance balloon from the legendary spy plane, was real.
Keith
Super Anarchist
Mike G
Super Anarchist
I'm no expert, but that doesn't seem any higher than a passenger jet flies. I don't think that at 60,000 feet you'd see roads that clearly. Is this photo supposed to be of the balloon at that height?
Talchotali
Capt. Marvel's Wise Friend
Ah, all is clear, Pic from a U2 of course. So the balloon is around FL650, the U2 can fly up to FL 800+
veni vidi vici
Omne quod audimus est opinio, non res. Omnia videm
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Cellphone photo?
silent bob
Super Anarchist
Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
Those aren't roads, they're lines of lat & long, they show up clearly at any altitude
The lines holding the contraption to the balloon? Or the curvy lines on the ground?
Tacoma Mud Flats
Have star, will steer by
Good article about the U2 pic and geolocating the ground below:
Dog 2.0
Super Anarchist
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Heck of a job Joey ...
“The Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official.
China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real time, the three officials said”.
Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it (nbcnews.com)
“The Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official.
China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real time, the three officials said”.
Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it (nbcnews.com)
veni vidi vici
Omne quod audimus est opinio, non res. Omnia videm
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I know that a liboid here in PA can help me out with this, what efforts did the Xiden administration do to “block “ it from flying over and hovering over US military installations?
Dex Sawash
Demi Anarchrist
Biden is source of all wind so is responsible for all movements of unpowered lighter-than-air craft
Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
DO NOT pull his finger
- Thread starter
- #977
The Pentagon claimed this thing had some rudimentary ability to steer. It may have been able to target thermals by changing altitude as well? Until I know otherwise, I'll assume Biden followed the best recommendation of the USAF, and didn't overrule them. I know they did try to play mind games with the Chinese, disrupting routine signals and possibly giving false signals for this thing to sponge up. It appears that may have been the main tool that high altitude spy satellites couldn't do? Whether the USAF was competent in their decision tree, and why they were so slow, and how much they knew before that reported broke the story are all questions that should be critically addressed but to which I don't necessarily need to be privy.
Bus Driver
Bacon Quality Control Specialist
Help me out, here. Where are we on the "believe what the government says"?
I know sometimes we hear from the Faithful that the government is lying, and we should not believe what they tell us. Especially, if the source remains unnamed.
Is this one of those times?
I know sometimes we hear from the Faithful that the government is lying, and we should not believe what they tell us. Especially, if the source remains unnamed.
Is this one of those times?
- Thread starter
- #979
Great question. I hate trusting government. The military industrial complex habitually hides failings and corruption under 'national security'. Yet our counterespionage effort against China does seem to be an area where secrecy is legitimate, and we have to hope they aren't entirely incompetent and corrupt.
