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A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
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Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#72Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#73The rate of return on this is phenomenal. A 53" balloon costs $9.99. You could shut down all large and medium hubs in the US for $629.37/day. The asymmetry is astounding and I'm surprised we don't defend against this kind of attack more efficiently.
Doesn't usually work. There are over a thousand incursions by unmanned aircraft systems along the U.S.-Mexico border each month, per the NORAD commander: https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/370778... . They pretty much never result in shutting down air space or launching missiles. Responding to a single party balloon with a giant laser, thus causing a saner government official to close the airspace…
'saner govt official because moron firing giant lasers into the air' - lasers just go everywhere at once and hit everything in the air, into the stratosphere? it's a big sky and gets bigger the higher you go.
Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#74Is there any reputable source for this claim? Apologies if I missed it but didn't see one linked in the article. I ask because it's not what I'd read or understood yesterday.
All of the "reputable" sources appear to be relying on "highly placed" anonymous sources, and many of the articles conflict with each other.
Could have been little green men! But what exactly happened is probably (or should be) classified.
Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's pretty directly relevant to "homeland security", anti-terrorism, etc. I wouldn't say that's the problem. Make no mistake, the actual drone terrorism is coming. I guess you could say that only the actual military should handle it, but... Why?
I may have foolishly accepted the premise of incompetence in posing my question. Basically it seemed to me like the complaint was untrained/experienced (incompetent) people were deciding/deploying the fancy laser munition. That seemed worth of rebuke. After some brief searching I'm less clear about who took what action. It seemed more like giving police forces (or allowing them to buy) APCs, armored Humvees, etc. Les…
Mostly agree. I wouldn't give high powered lasers to local police forces either. My point is that the problem is less to do with lasers and anti-drone tech in particular than with incompetence and abuse of power generally. Lasers are just the way it manifested in this instance.
Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#76> Who among us hasn’t, at some point, mistaken a party balloon for a cartel drone? Let him cast the first stone.
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Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's pretty directly relevant to "homeland security", anti-terrorism, etc. I wouldn't say that's the problem. Make no mistake, the actual drone terrorism is coming. I guess you could say that only the actual military should handle it, but... Why?
Nuclear weapons are also directly relevant to "homeland security" (at least as a deterrent), yet I doubt many would be in favor of putting them under DHS as well.
That both of those are labelled "homeland security" is almost a coincidence. Strategic security vs a fancy brand name for counter-terrorism.
Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#78Is there any reputable source for this claim? Apologies if I missed it but didn't see one linked in the article. I ask because it's not what I'd read or understood yesterday.
No. Only unnamed sources. I would say it is more likely a balloon than not though. Both stories are perfectly believable, a mylar balloon is def going to show up on radar, and the cartel does use drones. I think the balloon story is more believable though because the cartels would gain almost nothing from this, and if it was a drone I would expect photos of the debris by now.
Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reading between the lines, it sounds like the FAA maybe did not trust CBP to "test" operate the high powered laser near civilian aviation, in part given that they mistakenly identified a balloon for a cartel drone.
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Well generally speaking you don't want air traffic controllers falling asleep at the job.
Re: A party balloon shut down El Paso International Airport; estimated cost –$573k
#80> Who among us hasn’t, at some point, mistaken a party balloon for a cartel drone? Let him cast the first stone.
It's a shame the F-22 wasn't publicly allowed to get its second A2A kill! ;)
Fyi, the f-22 logged a second kill shortly after the first:
https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-shoots-down-unknown-flyi...