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

An explosion in the sky over Billings Montana, where a Chinese spy balloon has been flying over the region, was caught on camera Friday.

Mysterious video of the aftermath shows a trail of smoke in the sky where the balloon was last spotted.

Dolly Moore, who took video of the scene, said she 'saw a jet go by so fast and then explosion in the sky.'

As the video spread on social media, Defence officials have said the balloon over Montana has not exploded.

It comes after the US State Department called the balloon, which was travelling over U.S. airspace at 60,000 feet, a 'clear violation' of U.S. sovereignty, but said it wouldn't be shot down because it was flying over a 'number of sensitive site

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ana-Chinese-balloon-spotted-U-S-airspace.html
 

Murrmurr said:
Closer to the ground = better imagery
Satellites cannot intercept radio signals
There's also the ability to accurately measure and plot air currents
Airships are far better at ground-penetrating radar than satallites
And I'm sure there are other advantages
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Disagree. Satellites can intercept radio signals, although it’s illegal for amateur radio operators that build their own receivers to do the same. (If they get caught.) Satellites can also grab cell phone communications. I’m telling you what I know. Whether you can find it on the Internet, I don’t know. Not everything is listed on the ‘net. Surprise!

The CIA is listening to almost everything going on, whether it’s radio waves, cell phones, short wave communications, etc. satellites have a multitude of uses, including launching ground missiles. If we ever get the ability to launch missiles from space, then we’ll be the leader in OWS, or Orbital Weapon Systems. I remember back during the Reagan years when he wanted us to have that technology known as Star Wars, but congress thought it to be too pricey as some Senators put it.

But someday, if we ever get through this whatever it us we are in, maybe we can get back to doing what we should be doing, protecting our country because China sure hasn’t stopped development of better weaponry. I still don’t consider North Korea as a major threat, although they have missiles that can reach the west coast, we have the the weaponry in space to knock down any missiles they would fire at us. If we can shoot down a foreign satellite with a missile, how hard would it be to knock down a missile fired at us using a satellite to launch a ground missile to intercept their missile? We have proven that we can do it, but the bigger issue is that if a country were to fire a multitude of missiles, that makes it more difficult, but not impossible. Missiles launched from subs worries me more.

Just think of having to protect against ground missiles and sub launched missiles. We have the weaponry, but do we have the right people in charge today? I’m not talking about the Government. I am referring more to the command in place at this time. This is why we continually fight WWIII using computers. We are talking about thousands of missiles being launched all at one time. The world would go up in a puff of smoke.
 
Murrmurr said:
Closer to the ground = better imagery
Satellites cannot intercept radio signals
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Not correct I'm afraid.
Satellites developed and launched by the National Reconnaissance Office(NRO) but once in orbit they are used by The National Security Agency (NSA) to intercept radio traffic. The information collected is used by both military and civilian agencies.

No reason to assume the same does not apply to China with their satellites,
 
Gaer said:
Hey! Billings, Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota are my old stomping grounds! Offended! (just kidding, not offended)
I would think those Montana cowboys would have taken it down though! They are not wimps, nor is the USAF.

"Damage" to what's below is a bogus reason for not shooting it down IMO. Our government has other reasons; FEAR comes to mind.
Politics also comes to mind. Wait until it's over DC and watch the panic!

The Communist Chinese government is NOT our ally! This is not a friendly mistake. Why didn't we know about it when it was over Alaska?
and, What was the explosion over Billings? Oh, I think we will let it leave our airspace. We coddle China!
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We need to find out just what’s inside it. If it’s nothing, great, but if it has any type of technology in it, someone has a lot of questions to answer.

I remember reading an article in one of the magazines at the VA and it had a story in it about Russia and China teaming up to become allies to take us down. I read about two paragraphs of it and then turned the page. The article at first sounded plausible, but then it kind of went off the tracks. I don’t think we need to worry about those two teaming up, at least not as long as Putin is in charge.
 
Oh don't fret, as soon as this balloon is over the Atlantic Ocean, it will be "disengaged with any air movement". No harm from any falling debri to the ground, and I can't wait to see what the Chinese call "only weather gauges".

The Chinese weather is predicted by the US to get brutally stormy any day now.
 
Someone posted that the balloon is the size of 3 city buses. Given that as a size it's highly unlikely that it would not be spotted as it crossed the Pacific ocean.

Then there is technology that makes it possible for all of us to sit in our homes & "talk" to others half way around the world. That same ability to "talk" can be monitored so IMO what ever might be transmitted will be known.

Then there is lack of steering & dependence on air currents to fly over sensitive areas. REALLY! As others have posted it could be more about checking response than being about actually gathering useful information. I think once out of areas of population some method of bringing it down pretty much intact so contents can be examined will be what takes place.
 
CallMeKate said:
Seeing conflicting reports about the "explosion" being a hoax. Hope someone soon figures out what it was and stops the speculation.
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Apparently the report of the explosion was a hoax. Someone thought it would be funny to make people think an American fighter jet had blown up. Social media makes it possible to do something like that. A warped mind makes someone want to do it.

Describing it as a balloon apparently has led some people astray in their understanding of what it actually is and what it could be capable of doing.
 
I really doubt there is any spy surveillance equipment on board. Why would China expose tech equipment to being discovered? Then there is the altitude & air currents. Testing that compared to temps & other weather situations makes more sense to me. IMO better to bring it down when there is no chance of harming population. Then see what equipment it may have on board.

Why commit ground troops, missiles, or any visible methods of attack when what they are doing now could work as a delivery system for a biological attack sometime in the future. No nuclear destruction, no destruction by bombs. But death & wide spread panic that would be met with what as a response by our military?

My hope is that any future "balloons" be destroyed over the Pacific ocean long before they reach our mainland.
 
Knight said:
I really doubt there is any spy surveillance equipment on board. Why would China expose tech equipment to being discovered?
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Exactly. This is what I was saying yesterday... they KNEW we'd know it was there. There's no way they thought we'd not detect it. It's feeling like either a cat and mouse game to test what we'd do... or maybe it really *did* drift off-course because they're not stupid and they know we're not.
 
Now that China has flown their spy craft across the country and had time to transmit the acquired data home it seems we may attempt to shoot it down. They are reporting how sophisticated this thing is, that it can see more than satellites, etc. and how it’s had a great view of our defense systems, not that it’s likely any one cares.
 
CallMeKate said:
Exactly. This is what I was saying yesterday... they KNEW we'd know it was there. There's no way they thought we'd not detect it. It's feeling like either a cat and mouse game to test what we'd do... or maybe it really *did* drift off-course because they're not stupid and they know we're not.
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Well, there's that, Kate. International chess gamesmanship writ large.

Considering claims it is a weather airship drifting off course seems it would have had a national registration number and perhaps national flag displayed. Considering all the images I've see show it as unmarked, it can only be surmised as clandestine in nature.

So be it. As it clears the continental U.S. and drifts out to sea it becomes someone else's problem. Au revoir.
 
BREAKING: Departures from and arrivals to three U.S. airports has been paused while the Federal Aviation Administration issues a ground stop to "support the Department of Defense in a national security effort."

(Airports are in coastal NC and SC as balloon heads for the Atlantic.)
 
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