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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

#731

Post by cuteboy19 »

landemva wrote: post #726
everybodyknows wrote: post #707

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The implication of that being the shootdown was a media-initiated event. After civilians saw the balloon from the ground, and it became lead story on every news site, with the MAGA press calling Biden "weak", something had to be done, whether it makes military sense or not. https://www.foxnews.com/media/biden-weak-response-chinese-su...

McCarthy like Pelosi looks to visit Taiwan because of playground pride. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-30/china-urg... USA is being baited into war on multiple fronts.

I mean it's game theory. Once you start allowing such things you simply have to always allow them. If you allow China to bully you into not visiting Taiwan, they will start bullying you into something else. Neither side will actually do war so it makes sense not to fold

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

#732

Post by cuteboy19 »

rkagerer wrote: post #703
fbdab103 wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Significantly closer to the ground, so can capture better resolution pictures. If browsing Google Earth, the high-resolution data around cities originates from airplanes, not satellites.

Hey does that mean we can soon buy high-res, balloon-altitude imagery at low-priced China-rates?

We can already do it better with drones, but those don't fly high enough to be used this way

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

#733

Post by mattmaroon »

404mm wrote: post #382

I feel like the balloon takedown was seriously mishandled. Imo it should have been shot down right after it crossed our borders and before it started move over populated areas. That way there would be no surveillance and you could examine the payload. Now that it’s in the water, you may not even find it.

Do you think that did not occur to the military? I’m sure that if they blundered, it was not in some way that was so obvious. Either they simply didnt know about it until it was too late, or they had some reason to not shoot it then that you’re not aware of. The idea that they decided not to do so for no good reason is silly.

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

#734

Post by za3faran »

heartbreak wrote: post #105
ricardobeat wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multiple people reported that it was visible to naked eye from the ground, it must have been huge for that.

I saw it from my car today while driving before I knew it was going to be in my area. It was very visible to the naked eye. It was large enough that the perspective made it seem a lot lower altitude than it actually was.

Not sure what the CCP is thinking. Are they simply trying to instigate a response with such a brazen display?

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

#735

Post by SpicyP »

sandworm101 wrote: post #472
remarkEon wrote: post #466

Sidestepping the geopolitical issues with this for a moment ... What advantage is there to using a high altitude balloon for surveillance? I have to imagine there are some - like longer loiter time over a specific point, maybe better optics because you are still in atmosphere, it's obviously cheaper than launching a satellite - but I don't really know enough about this kind of hardware to say. Or maybe the point wasn…

Turnaround/prototyping. Getting a sensor onto a spy sat is a multi-year process of testing and validating. But a new balloon can probably be built and flown in a matter of weeks. So any country trying to learn how to spy from above might want to build up the relevant corporate knowledge using balloons.

Why did they need to test it over the United States though? If the purpose was prototyping you’d think they could have done that locally

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

#737

Post by enkid »

geomark wrote: post #512
ncr100 wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jamming vs encryption... They are unrelated.

Tangentially related. Spread spectrum signals are jamming resistant, have lower probability of intercept and can be effectively cryptographically secure.

Spread spectrum has little to do with whether or not the signal is truly encrypted.

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

#738

Post by mlyle »

ttul wrote: post #570
jki275 wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do stories like this come from? Simple logic would tell you there is no possible way to weigh an aircraft coating to a milligram and verify that it matches a somehow measured precise amount applied to the aircraft. The concept is ridiculous.

I’m embarrassed to say I got this “fact” from a HN comment.

Weighing the scrap (as one of many controls) to make sure it isn't tampered with during downstream disposal is pretty likely, even if comparing against the original coating weight isn't too practical.

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

#739

Post by cuteboy19 »

landemva wrote: post #729
UltraViolence wrote: post #722

I'm very surprised that China would take the risk of fueling a political firestorm when these balloons are only marginally more effective than the satellites they already have. These intrusions are clearly a violation of our airspace and could even be considered an act of war. What the hell was Xi thinking? Is he trying to communicate that China can do whatever it wants with impunity? Did he even authorize this fligh…

> What the hell was Xi thinking? Pelosi visited Taiwan before last Chinese elections which ensured Xi would win. If it's meant to be, better for Xi to have USA attempt to fight multiple fronts concurrently.

So are you saying there was a chance someone else would win? I don't understand your priors to be honest. Elections don't really matter all that much in China. And it's not as though he has much opposition inside the party either. Would love to know your thoughts

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

#740

Post by twelve40 »

colinsane wrote: post #117
davidu wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure where your info is from, but this balloon was seen by the naked eye and all over social media. As someone who lives in Montana, many many people could see it. The idea that the USG prompted the publicity is unlikely to be accurate (would suggest a calculated social media psyop). Not impossible, but not likely.

there’s a bit of difference between it being spread as a meme online and then quietly fading into the background v.s. the President of the country ordering it to be shot down by a jet and then announcing said order to the public. just how close/far is this from “business as usual”? if this balloon were no big deal, i wouldn’t expect it to be escalated to the Commander in Chief. which tells me either (a) there’s (susp…

if there was as you say some real serious shit aboard they would have shot it right away before it got to do its thing, no? I really don't buy "after it could cause damage by falling" because it flew over some pretty deserted spaces.
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