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US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

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Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

#161

Post by bitL »

mulmen wrote: post #117
bitL wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laser mapping of military POIs before a war in a few years? See the recent laser rays on Mauna Kea.

Can you elaborate on this? My understanding of the Mauna Kea lasers is that they are used to adjust the mirrors for atmospheric conditions in real time.

Yes, those originating from (around) the telescopes. But just recently Subaru telescope captured laser beams originating from space scanning Mauna Kea in regular intervals that looked like satellite mapping.

https://www.newsweek.com/mysterious-green-lasers-hawaii-chin...

Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

#162

Post by pixl97 »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #20

We need a cheaper way to down these spy balloons. The sidewinder missile + F-22 flight time costs are an order of magnitude greater than the total cost of launching one balloon. Send over the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler (HELIOS) to protect the west coast.

We need to base the number of occurances against our average training flight time/ammo expenditure. Currently we train a hell of a lot more than we actively shoot down targets so the expenditure is practically nothing. Now if a lot more show up that's a different equation.

Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

#163

Post by nonethewiser »

BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 wrote: post #80

Pot calling kettle black. The US has been sending armed drones into several countries without coordination with local ATC or consent of the local government. Soleimani and a number of Iraqi military officers were taken out by a US drone.

> Soleimani and a number of Iraqi military officers were taken out by a US drone.

Good. Right?

Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

#164

Post by kylehotchkiss »

mikeyouse wrote: post #143

There's a weird set of specifications with this one since they seem to be making a distinction between the balloon last week and whatever this is; * Flying at 40k feet altitude * Size of a small car * Not manned * Didn't appear to be maneuverable * Shot down with an AIM-9X heatseaking missile What could that be? Also, seems premature to assume China again when Russia is far closer to the Alaskan coast and just as ant…

the equivalent of a satellite being hung from a balloon. "Non maneuverable" is still sort of ambiguous because these types of vehicles navigate by selecting the altitude with the most favorable winds and using controls to attain that altitude, either with a more advanced gas fill/release system or dropping ballast. It sounds like the previous balloon had a good amount of these systems so it could be aimed and this one likely had a more rudimentary version?

Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

#165

Post by neogodless »

ejb999 wrote: post #155
Ninjinka wrote: post #4

I mean maybe I'm just not up to date on recent history, but when was the last time we shot down anything in our our airspace prior to last week?

[flagged]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800_conspiracy_theo...

Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

#169

Post by bailoon »

next_xibalba wrote: post #108

I've wondered if these incursions are intentional on the part of the Chinese to provoke a precedent setting response to airborne (and beyond) surveillance. "They shoot down our surveillance balloons, giving us precedent to shoot down their high altitude drone planes or satellites in the future."

> I've wondered if these incursions are intentional on the part of the Chinese to provoke a precedent setting response to airborne (and beyond) surveillance.

It's more likely a coordinated event to get people to talk about something other than covid and the last 3 disastrous years. Lets be honest here, neither china nor the US wants people asking uncomfortable questions about covid. Now that the covid era appears to be over, what better way to distract people than "war".

They did the same thing with 9/11. Uncomfortable questions about 9/11 was overshadowed by war and iraqi "wmds". Eventually people forget or move on.

Call me a cynic, but china ends covid lockdowns and all of a sudden we get "surveillance" balloons. And the entire media apparatus has us talking about silly balloons instead of wondering what the last 3 years of covid was about. My guess was a staged "terrorist" attack somewhere to transition us from the covid news cycle. Turns out we got balloons instead. Whatever works in the end.

Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

#170

Post by Nimitz14 »

Eduard wrote: post #138
durandal1 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At those altitudes the combination of a very high closing speed (air is thin) and the short range of the gun creates a real risk of flying into the target you're trying to hit.

This sounds paradoxical to me. Using the same reasoning, a gun bullet should also be faster with higher altitude, hence have a longer range.

The high speed is necessary so the plane doesn’t fall out of the sky. A bullet is going to have a different friction coefficient than a plane so is not as affected by the altitude.
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