Chinese spy balloon floating over the US

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aonestudio said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1621357419581571072
View: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1621357419581571072
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Par for the course for Global Times. The DoD has been tracking it. So has Canada apparently. They've just decided not to shoot at it because they don't want it hitting a populated area. Depending on how much higher the balloon is, a Raptor would probably be able to take an AMRAAM shot (the sensor/solar panel/etc. module looks like a big fat collection of nice corner reflectors).

Maybe the story should be treated as "China authorizes foreign semi-persistent unmanned surveillance of its nuclear missile bases," I wonder how that would be handled.
 
SOC said:
sferrin said:
A Tentative Fleet Plan said:
sferrin said:
CJGibson said:
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Balloons fly higher. Those aircraft would be easy pickin's. A balloon at 130,000 feet not so much.
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That Myasishchev M-17 was originally designed expressly for shooting down high-altitude reconnaissance balloons.
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With what? Because the plane definitely wasn't getting up there. The word record it set was only 71,000 feet.
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In it's balloon-killer guise there would've been a dorsal turret if I remember correctly.
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Some of them get up there though. That Felix dude jumped from something like 125,000 feet and they tested Hercules against one at over 150,000 feet.

 
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SOC said:
aonestudio said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1621357419581571072
View: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1621357419581571072
Click to expand...
Par for the course for Global Times. The DoD has been tracking it. So has Canada apparently. They've just decided not to shoot at it because they don't want it hitting a populated area. Depending on how much higher the balloon is, a Raptor would probably be able to take an AMRAAM shot (the sensor/solar panel/etc. module looks like a big fat collection of nice corner reflectors).
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The "not wanting to hit a populated area" sounds like a fig-leaf. If that thing is at 125,000ft+ could an AIM-120 even hit it? I don't doubt it's got the KE to reach that high but would it be controllable in air that thin? Also, wouldn't its low speed get it filtered out of what's presented to the pilot?
 
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_Del_ said:
Hobbes said:
Seems like a lot of trouble for a few hours of coverage per site, at most. And since balloons are not steerable, you get coverage of random sites instead of being able to target.
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As opposed to the trouble of a few hundred million dollar satellites and their launch vehicles which give very brief minutes of coverage in rather predictable orbits, or..?
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Satellites at least give you repeated coverage every day to every few days. A balloon is a one-shot payload. The endurance record for high-altitude balloons is one month.
 
Dilandu said:
Being a fiasco in 1950s doesn't mean that spy baloons could not have advantages in 2020s. Technology improved quite a lot.
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yes thats right, but if this a Spy balloon, i would Camouflage it better as that one,
you see this thing from Ground
i would use transparent balloon hull like this one.

Boomerang_Telescope.jpeg
 
A theory I've seen is that its meant to gain data on the F-22s radar + AIM-120s
 
Michel Van said:
Orionblamblam said:
"We can penetrate your airspace. We're hovering over you. We're watching you. We're making you look weak and ineffectual."
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yeah, the Chinese love this kind of subtle messages to there enemies,
Also the Iranians...
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First off, the PLA did Gen. Mike Minihan a HUGE favor, because in the face of this incursion nobody is going to criticize his memo now.

Second, they probably want us to blaze their balloon with a DEW, which we are not going to give them the satisfaction of witnessing.
 
A weather balloon.
www.bbc.com

Chinese spy balloon over US is weather device says Beijing

China says a suspected spy balloon is actually a wayward "civilian airship" used for weather monitoring.
www.bbc.com
US defence officials said they believed the balloon, seen above sensitive areas in recent days, was in fact a "high-altitude surveillance" device.

But in a statement, China's foreign ministry said it was used for "mainly meteorological" purposes.

China "regrets the unintended entry" of the balloon into US airspace, it added.
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US government is not convinced, Blinken postpones trip.
edition.cnn.com

Blinken postpones trip to Beijing after Chinese spy balloon spotted over US

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his upcoming trip to China in response to the flying of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the United States, in what marks a significant new phase in the tensions between Washington and Beijing.
edition.cnn.com edition.cnn.com
 
Arjen said:
A weather balloon.
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Such claims from China is probably the main reason, why US military argued against shooting it down. If they wouldn't find anything definitely spy-ish in the wreck, the China would spin the story about "those insane Americans shot down harmless weather balloon that just accidentally drifted into US airspace". Considering the current state of US-China relations, shooting down a Chinese balloon and being unable to prove that it was doing anything bad is the last thing Washington DC may desire.
 
QuadroFX said:
Some balloon flies freely over a country with a military budget of $900 billion. Pathetic.
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Well, your air defenses aren't exactly formidable. As far as I know, since the last Nike-Hercules was removed from service, there wasn't any permanent air defense systems on standby on US mainland.
 
Oh yeah. I can *see* the spy camera on the balloon from China. You can park a satellite in orbit over one spot. Anyone remember the "We can read a license plate from orbit." line?

"Blinken postpones trip" Big deal.

1960, President Eisenhower is supposed to meet with Khrushchev. A U-2 is allegedly shot down. I saw a photo published in a newspaper showing the U-2 on the ground. I have seen many photos of crashed gliders. You could walk away from that.

"On the first day of the Paris summit, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stormed out after delivering a condemnation of U.S. spy activities."
 
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Dilandu said:
QuadroFX said:
Some balloon flies freely over a country with a military budget of $900 billion. Pathetic.
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Well, your air defenses aren't exactly formidable. As far as I know, since the last Nike-Hercules was removed from service, there wasn't any permanent air defense systems on standby on US mainland.
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There are a few NASAMS launchers around DC but that's all I can think of. Fighters seem to handle CONUS air defense these days.
 
CJGibson said:
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Exactly. It shows that balloons are not as easy to kill as one might think. IR homers? No way. Radar seekers, to some extent, although they may have to be reprogrammed to go after something that slow. And most missiles are prox fuzed, and for some reason we don't design our prox fuzes to go BANG because they detect a Mylar bag.
 
Apparently the Pentagon says it's at 60,000 feet.
 
if only there was an organization whose sole purpose was to defend American airspace against foreign aircraft……….
 
It's worth noting that very similar balloons have been photographed over Japan and India. I always did wonder how China would use their balloons in the intercontinental manner that the winds allow. It's too cost effective an exploit not to take advantage of, but I had assumed I wouldn't see the balloons unless war broke out, and that they would be some kind of payload delivery system, like the Fu-Go. Makes you wonder if the North Korea or Russia will build something similar, or already have.
 
paralay said:
I served in Severomorsk in 1989 - 1991. Reconnaissance balloons from Norway flew periodically. They were shot down by Su-27 from a cannon

Североморск
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If a supersonic fighter can get up to the same altitude as a balloon, you have to wonder if it would be just as effective so simply fly by the balloon real fast and let the shockwave tear the envelope apart. Then you at least don't have bullets raining down on your own territory.
 
 
Looking at the clearer pictures, it doesn’t look very sophisticated at all.
 
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