I feel sorry for the pool soul who decided to send up their DIY weather balloon with gopro to get that space shot. Who knows he might even have a video of a F-22 sending a missile over.
US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
441–450 of 864 posts
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#442Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it is just as likely to be a reporter's garbled understanding of an explanation. In mysterious matters wait until you have 2 or 3 datapoints before using a heuristic.
Agreed, but the "previous balloon" part may be unnecessary. User dTal is on the same train of thought as I was regarding the "not maneuverable" part. What other type of object exists which can fly and yet does not have the ability to maneuver?
Better question: why do we allow our government to answer our questions with riddles?
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#443Earlier quoted context omitted.
A "sidewinder missile + F-22 flight time costs" are a rounding error in the national security budget. The experience and lessons learnt from using it are valuable to all layers of the military and administration, significantly more so than the financial cost. (I'm British and so not a US tax payer, just a spectator, but would argue the same here)
What lessons might shooting some balloon from an F-22 might give you that you don't already know?
Do you really want to discuss this?
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#444Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it is just as likely to be a reporter's garbled understanding of an explanation. In mysterious matters wait until you have 2 or 3 datapoints before using a heuristic.
Agreed, but the "previous balloon" part may be unnecessary. User dTal is on the same train of thought as I was regarding the "not maneuverable" part. What other type of object exists which can fly and yet does not have the ability to maneuver?
Alien aircraft with functioning anti gravity system but inoperable propulsion system? :)
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#445Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry. I should have been clearer with that "it." The Pentagon said the F-22 was flying at 58K feet and the balloon was at 60-65,000 feet. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/32... Of course, that could be a lie too!
There's not really any reason the Pentagon needed to state the F-22 was at 58k if that was actually new information (I haven't investigated the previously admitted service ceiling). They could have just as easily have claimed it was at 50k when it fired. EDIT: Wikipedia claims the service ceiling of the F-22 is 65k feet anyways.
Check the Wikipedia edit history. Bunch of arguing over it. It was 50,000 feet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lockheed_Martin_F...
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#446I like how the measurement unit seems to be either small cars or school busses.
How many Olympic-sized swimming pools is that?
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#447Earlier quoted context omitted.
A government that spends more money on their military than the rest of the world combined isn't at risk of bankruptcy from firing a couple missiles. We're at risk of bankruptcy because our debt is 31 trillion dollars and in June we won't even be able to issue securities to continue bullshitting ourselves out of cutting spending. Welcome to America, we're broke because we spent all our money on guns rather than infras…
> Welcome to America, we're broke because we spent all our money on guns rather than infrastructure, healthcare and education. This sentiment is completely untrue. Defense is approximately 12% of US government spending, healthcare approximately 24%, education approximately 15%, and social security roughly 20%. Infrastructure is harder to categorize, but the truth is that the US government spends at least 4x more on h…
Yep. Basically welfare far exceeds all other costs.
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#448Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#449Earlier quoted context omitted.
A Tu-95 Bear coming anywhere close to a U.S. ADIZ is very likely to get an introduction to Mr. Sidewinder or Mr. AMRAAM, considering their primary role is to deliver nuclear ordnance.
I feel like I’m reading a very upsetting children’s book.
"My First F-22 Air Attack Pattern"
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#450I'm trying to think of anything valuable you can learn from a balloon flyover that isn't already public domain, and I'm coming up blank. Anyone have any examples?
I mean, I'd geolocate and sample comms traffic. Capture and send back what I can.