Breaking News... That Chinese Spy Balloon. Thoughts?

Nathan said:
Oh, been meaning to ask: How do we know that the Chinese launched this/these balloons? Last I heard they weren't answering the phone when the Pentagon tried to call them to confirm.
Is there a visible "made in China" label on it? A lot of stuff has that label nowadays. šŸ˜…
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China admitted to the balloon(s), and even apologized for the "accidental drift."

But also, we intercepted the balloon's data collecting and recognized the on-board equipment as Chinese. Plus, we gathered up its parts.
 
Murrmurr said:
China admitted to the balloon(s), and even apologized for the "accidental drift."

But also, we intercepted the balloon's data collecting and recognized the on-board equipment as Chinese. Plus, we gathered up its parts.
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Re: accidental drift.... šŸ˜… Call me old-fashioned but I just view spy balloons as being really old fashioned. Spy satellites are 'the bomb', everyone's been using them for the last 68 years.

Speaking of Chinese spy efforts, I just came across an article which I'll post in the Computers sub-forum:
China-manufactured OPPO, OnePlus, Xiaomi Smartphones Loaded with Spyware
 
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Re: "Old fashioned"... Yes... which is why I can't get the thought out of my head that it almost seems like a diversion tactic since they knew we'd see it. Like what's really going on over there while we're so concerned about balloons? I hope someone's watching their movements concerning Taiwan. Any ideas yet on what these three new "objects" may be?
 
The BBC news today, threw a spanner into the "Chinese Balloon",
idea, they report that some of these craft were private, from some
American Companies, try to gather some kind of data, for a project,
to do with Uncle Sam!

Mike.
 
Murrmurr said:
But according to the US Navy and NORAD, we gathered intelligence from the balloon while it gathered intelligence as it traversed the country, and that this was a good thing.

China already had a pretty good picture of where our nukes and stuff are, just as we know where theirs are, so this wasn't a major concern. And since they already know all that, the real concern was what else the balloon might be up to, and why. So our military and intelligence people decided to just monitored the thing for a while.
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Waitā€¦.We gathered intelligence from the balloon while it gathered intelligence as it traversed the country. What did we gather intelligence of? Our own country? Yeah, thatā€™s a good thing. That doesnā€™t even make sense.
 
Been There said:
Waitā€¦.We gathered intelligence from the balloon while it gathered intelligence as it traversed the country. What did we gather intelligence of? Our own country? Yeah, thatā€™s a good thing. That doesnā€™t even make sense.
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It told us exactly what kind of data China was collecting. IMO, that is a good thing. If the data they were collecting put us at immediate risk, I think we'd have popped their balloon a lot sooner.
 
 
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FastTrax said:
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The big generals at the Pentagon are saying it's obvious China is preparing to take over Taiwan, but that Xi Jinping does not want a military conflict of any sort with the US.

So, my guess is they're looking at ways to take over Taiwan without an actual invasion, without the PLA, and without military weapons. Which is doable. But they might be considering somehow crippling the US first, or at least distracting it. Xi doesn't want to annihilate the US because shit-tons of money travels back and forth between them and us and he doesn't want that to stop until China becomes self-reliant. But he doesn't want the US military to become protector of Taiwan, either.

So, he's got alotta calculatin' to do.
 
Nathan said:
Oh, been meaning to ask: How do we know that the Chinese launched this/these balloons? Last I heard they weren't answering the phone when the Pentagon tried to call them to confirm.
Is there a visible "made in China" label on it? A lot of stuff has that label nowadays. šŸ˜…
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How do we know? Well, they claimed ownership of the first balloon.
ā€œThe People's Republic of China confirmed Friday that the balloon craft floating over the northern United States is Chinese.ā€
https://news.yahoo.com/china-confirms-balloon-theirs-spokesperson-140812991.html

The rest? Who knows, but China or Russia seem to be a good bet. Both have the technology, as well as a well known hatred of the US.
 
Murrmurr said:
It told us exactly what kind of data China was collecting. IMO, that is a good thing. If the data they were collecting put us at immediate risk, I think we'd have popped their balloon a lot sooner.
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Thatā€™s a reach. We knew where it tracked, so it wasnā€™t hard to know what it videoed or snapped pictures of. We know it tracked over our missile sites and ICBM fields. Unless it tracked over any military sites, it didnā€™t get much more. The damn thing should have been shot down as soon as it was spotted. Someone fell asleep at NORAD. Gen. VanHerck called it a ā€œdomain awareness gap.ā€ Thatā€™s like saying, ā€œI donā€™t know.ā€

How far do you think if we flew a balloon over Russia or China, our balloon would have got? Maybe a half mile? Even though the U.S. does not have a balloon program, it doesnā€™t mean we arenā€™t collecting data from these and other countries using covert or clandestine methods. This is another reason why we have to track Russian and Chinese submarines. As with the U.S., they also have ballistic missiles armed and ready for firing. Have you ever seen a missile fired from a sub?

We have planes equipped with highly sophisticated digitized cameras on planes, not the planes you see at the airport, but planes like the A-12 or the SR-71. Supposedly, Grumman is manufacturing a new plane that flies even higher and faster than either of these two. We already collect a significant amount of data from our enemies. We already have N. Koreaā€™s missile sites mapped and mist of Chinaā€™s and Russiaā€™s also. Itā€™s the silos that are in the ground that gave been difficult to capture on video.
 
Been There said:
Thatā€™s a reach. We knew where it tracked, so it wasnā€™t hard to know what it videoed or snapped pictures of. We know it tracked over our missile sites and ICBM fields. Unless it tracked over any military sites, it didnā€™t get much more. The damn thing should have been shot down as soon as it was spotted. Someone fell asleep at NORAD. Gen. VanHerck called it a ā€œdomain awareness gap.ā€ Thatā€™s like saying, ā€œI donā€™t know.ā€

How far do you think if we flew a balloon over Russia or China, our balloon would have got? Maybe a half mile? Even though the U.S. does not have a balloon program, it doesnā€™t mean we arenā€™t collecting data from these and other countries using covert or clandestine methods. This is another reason why we have to track Russian and Chinese submarines. As with the U.S., they also have ballistic missiles armed and ready for firing. Have you ever seen a missile fired from a sub?

We have planes equipped with highly sophisticated digitized cameras on planes, not the planes you see at the airport, but planes like the A-12 or the SR-71. Supposedly, Grumman is manufacturing a new plane that flies even higher and faster than either of these two. We already collect a significant amount of data from our enemies. We already have N. Koreaā€™s missile sites mapped and mist of Chinaā€™s and Russiaā€™s also. Itā€™s the silos that are in the ground that gave been difficult to capture on video.
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We've sent spy-balloons over both China and Russia and they didn't do anything about it. Russia's Minister of Defense called the White House, but nothing exciting otherwise.

Indeed, everyone knows a lot about where everyone else's nukes are stored, how many are there, locations of military targets and all that, but that's why our military wanted to know exactly what this balloon's tasks were; whether or not it was up to something new and different.

I'd define a ā€œdomain awareness gapā€ more like "someone wasn't paying attention" than ā€œI donā€™t know.ā€ And, all things considered, I thought Gen VanHerck was quite forthcoming about the situation. As forthcoming as our nat'l security would allow, at least.
 
All levity aside, please don't underestimate the malicious threat from Communist China!
They are our enemy! You can't just sweep this surveillance under the rug and "get on with it".
I don't know WHEN but I know we (USA) will war with China and they will become the new
economic leaders globally. Might not happen during our lifetime, but this WILL HAPPEN!
 
Gaer said:
All levity aside, please don't underestimate the malicious threat from Communist China!
They are our enemy! You can't just sweep this surveillance under the rug and "get on with it".
I don't know WHEN but I know we (USA) will war with China and they will become the new
economic leaders globally. Might not happen during our lifetime, but this WILL HAPPEN!
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There is a reason for the economic success of East Asians ā€” Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Like it or not they are highly intelligent. In this respect they have an edge over European Caucasians, and trail only the Ashkenazi Jews who have won Nobel prizes far out of proportion to their numbers.

As for war with China, in one form or another it might come fairly soon. Mainland China will almost certainly invade Taiwan - producer of the finest computer chips in the world. We, of course, are committed to defend Taiwan.
 
Murrmurr said:
It told us exactly what kind of data China was collecting. IMO, that is a good thing. If the data they were collecting put us at immediate risk, I think we'd have popped their balloon a lot sooner.
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OK, you believe what you want to, if it makes you feel better.
 
Been There said:
Waitā€¦.We gathered intelligence from the balloon while it gathered intelligence as it traversed the country. What did we gather intelligence of? Our own country? Yeah, thatā€™s a good thing. That doesnā€™t even make sense.
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Why do you think we delayed shooting it down?

I can think of a number of things we might have learned by not shooting it down until the last minutes before it left our airspace. Such as:
  • Being as certain as possible of its origin, nature, and mission.
  • Nature of communications being sent out from and received by it. Including our ability to intercept and understand and block those communications.
  • Close up photos and sensor scanning.
  • Patterns of motion, where was it going, including if it appeared to change course in response to our actions.
  • Some idea as to what it might have been carrying that could have caused problems if shot down.
  • Perhaps find a way to capture it in the air, or bring it down with minimal damage.
I'm no expert, and have no knowledge of what the real thinking was, this is just speculation. However it does seem to me it was likely a thoughtful decision to wait and learn what we could before taking it down. And as @Murrmurr has said it doesn't seem likely that the Chinese would learn much from this they don't already know. What harm could have been done by waiting?
 
It would have not lasted long over Texas.... :p (y)
iu
 
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