Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 1001 posts

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

#3

Post by zw123456 »

metadat wrote: post #2

Narrator: "A job well done by the US Military" I'm glad we have sufficient technology and capability to shoot down a balloon. What happens next?

The trick is to shoot it down in a way it falls slowly so you can retrieve it and see what is in it, although, I suspect our intelligence agencies have a pretty good idea already.

I have no idea of course, but one thing I thought would be a Stingray, at that altitude you could intercept thousands of cell calls. I doubt that's what it is but the other thing is if it has any radio jamming capabilities or other things of offensive nature.

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

#4

Post by ironyman »

I actually think it might just be a stray weather balloon. If they considered it a security threat they would've downed it before it reached continental US. Overall it's a fair resolution. It's a good political move to raise public awareness of tensions with the PRC (you'd be surprised how many people don't know). Downing it is mostly symbollic and completes the safety narrative.

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

#5

Post by ikekkdcjkfke »

ironyman wrote: post #4

I actually think it might just be a stray weather balloon. If they considered it a security threat they would've downed it before it reached continental US. Overall it's a fair resolution. It's a good political move to raise public awareness of tensions with the PRC (you'd be surprised how many people don't know). Downing it is mostly symbollic and completes the safety narrative.

F35 signature probe

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

#6

Post by riskpreneurship »

ironyman wrote: post #4

I actually think it might just be a stray weather balloon. If they considered it a security threat they would've downed it before it reached continental US. Overall it's a fair resolution. It's a good political move to raise public awareness of tensions with the PRC (you'd be surprised how many people don't know). Downing it is mostly symbollic and completes the safety narrative.

Seems unlikely, considering the size of the payload and the presence of propellers to help it navigate.

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

#8

Post by anon7725 »

metadat wrote: post #2

Narrator: "A job well done by the US Military" I'm glad we have sufficient technology and capability to shoot down a balloon. What happens next?

> What happens next?

They retrieve the wreckage and analyze it. We hear nothing further.

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

#9

Post by chitowneats »

ironyman wrote: post #4

I actually think it might just be a stray weather balloon. If they considered it a security threat they would've downed it before it reached continental US. Overall it's a fair resolution. It's a good political move to raise public awareness of tensions with the PRC (you'd be surprised how many people don't know). Downing it is mostly symbollic and completes the safety narrative.

Were the balloons from China transiting over Guam and Hawaii also blown of course? There are enough of these incidents for it to not seem like a coincidence.
Post reply on HN