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U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

cnbc.com

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Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#211

Post by strulovich »

sabujp wrote: post #146

Spy balloon cost : $3k - $50k , you can even buy them on alibaba and some other sites: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-hot-sale-surveillance-balloon-with_60454941082.html https://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/jennerjiang/product-list/catalog-1.html?view=0 Cost to shoot down balloon with F22 $400k for the AIM-9X, ~$85k for 1 hour of flight time, so ~$400 - $500k to shoot down one balloon that cost < $50k

This sort of calculations are slightly silly. F22s take off for training flights all the time, having one training flight switch to operational does not affect the cost.

It’s similar for using missiles. The opportunity to shoot a real one at a real target is good training.

Those things costs this money perhaps, but it’s not a useful way to think of it this way for such a case.

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#213

Post by sabujp »

kcb wrote: post #204
sabujp wrote: post #146

Spy balloon cost : $3k - $50k , you can even buy them on alibaba and some other sites: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-hot-sale-surveillance-balloon-with_60454941082.html https://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/jennerjiang/product-list/catalog-1.html?view=0 Cost to shoot down balloon with F22 $400k for the AIM-9X, ~$85k for 1 hour of flight time, so ~$400 - $500k to shoot down one balloon that cost < $50k

Meh. Complaining about the cost of shooting this down is pretty silly. F22s are already flown on a daily basis. And munitions are spent regularly in training excersises. It would cost far more millions to set up a training excersise even half as valuable. But that is just the cost of maintaining a capable fighter fleet. There's probably been sports event flyovers that have technically cost many times this.

ahh yea i forget that the amount we budget every year for training is basically the cost of a war

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#214

Post by james4k »

BurningFrog wrote: post #157
pxc wrote: post #102

I am so tired of China being used to stoke American jingoism, of politicians making a contest of who is really 'tough on China' and, most horrifyingly, of seeing other USians online practically salivate as they fantasize about a war with China. It's some cold war boogieman horseshit. And it's depressing to watch here on Hacker News, too, any comments that question the beating of those war drums go dead. Yesterday I h…

Since China is the major rival as a global superpower in the medium to long term, it has to be taken seriously as a threat. Of course jingoistic idiots will do what they do. But there is a kernel of unavoidable truth there.

It is unavoidable in that we have a world order where 5% of the world population maintains a dominance which can only wither away if the rest of the world is allowed to develop.

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#215

Post by sandworm101 »

retrac wrote: post #188
pxc wrote: post #102

I am so tired of China being used to stoke American jingoism, of politicians making a contest of who is really 'tough on China' and, most horrifyingly, of seeing other USians online practically salivate as they fantasize about a war with China. It's some cold war boogieman horseshit. And it's depressing to watch here on Hacker News, too, any comments that question the beating of those war drums go dead. Yesterday I h…

Assuming this is all due to America is, with apologies, typical American jingoism, that assumes the world revolves around Washington. Read some material from the Chinese side. The CPC sees itself in a life and death struggle with liberal capitalism as (allegedly) championed by the EU and USA. One or the other will triumph. The two orders are fundamentally incompatible. A new cold war is here, whether the Americans wa…

Except that china and Russia are now the capitalism champions. Money can buy anything there, specifically military and political power. America's constant fallback to elections and the will of the people in a way makes it the more socialist society. The masses still matter in America. The will of the masses means nothing in china and russia.

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#216

Post by BrotherBisquick »

sabujp wrote: post #146

Spy balloon cost : $3k - $50k , you can even buy them on alibaba and some other sites: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-hot-sale-surveillance-balloon-with_60454941082.html https://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/jennerjiang/product-list/catalog-1.html?view=0 Cost to shoot down balloon with F22 $400k for the AIM-9X, ~$85k for 1 hour of flight time, so ~$400 - $500k to shoot down one balloon that cost < $50k

I wonder why they didn't just use 20mm.

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#217

Post by ajross »

pxc wrote: post #102

I am so tired of China being used to stoke American jingoism, of politicians making a contest of who is really 'tough on China' and, most horrifyingly, of seeing other USians online practically salivate as they fantasize about a war with China. It's some cold war boogieman horseshit. And it's depressing to watch here on Hacker News, too, any comments that question the beating of those war drums go dead. Yesterday I h…

> politicians making a contest of who is really 'tough on China'

I know you're deliberately wording this to avoid a partisan angle, but I genuinely think that it's hurting your point here. There is no "contest" at play here. There are no "both sides". All this rhetoric is coming from one side of the aisle.

And I agree it's bad, and hurtful, and quite frankly probably doing more to help the Chinese position on the world stage than hurt it. But it's also not something that's going to be fixed by stopping a "contest". Either the republicans decide to be grownups or they don't. The democrats can't fix that.

Edit, because two responses have misunderstood this. This isn't about "being" tough on China, or about reasonably considering China as a threat to be countered. That is bipartisan, and despite the rhetoric something close to a default position among US elites. It's the partisan nonsense that ignores this clear consensus and tries to claim the Biden response is "soft" or whatever that's harmful. Again, if I were Xi and wanted to throw a bomb into US politics for my own benefit, I might very well provoke something like this.

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#218

Post by dragonwriter »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #165
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/32... > An F-22 Raptor fighter from the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, fired one AIM-9X Sidewinder missile at the balloon.

So it probably cost >$1M to shoot it down? How much did that balloon cost to make?

> So it probably cost >$1M to shoot it down?

AIM-9X looks to be around $400k, F-22 is $85k per flight hour, so, probably not.

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#219

Post by gnicholas »

droptablemain wrote: post #196

[flagged]

If what China said was true, wouldn't it have notified the US when it was going to be entering our airspace? Was any notification made? The news (to the extent it would know and would accurately report such a fact) has indicated that the US was not notified.

Re: U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

#220

Post by chitowneats »

yohanshi wrote: post #158
pxc wrote: post #102

I am so tired of China being used to stoke American jingoism, of politicians making a contest of who is really 'tough on China' and, most horrifyingly, of seeing other USians online practically salivate as they fantasize about a war with China. It's some cold war boogieman horseshit. And it's depressing to watch here on Hacker News, too, any comments that question the beating of those war drums go dead. Yesterday I h…

As a taiwanese who lurks on hacker news for many years but when I saw this post I had to make an account. You are dead wrong, China is an enemy of the free world, pure and simple. South Koreans and Ukrainians would agree with me here. Especially since China has declared no limit friendship with russia

Yohanshi,

Thank you for leaving your comment here. You have many friends in the U.S. We are more resolved than ever to ensure your freedom.

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