I like how the measurement unit seems to be either small cars or school busses.
Americans will measure with anything except the metric system.
US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
451–460 of 864 posts
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#452Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny, though tbh it seems like there are cheaper ways to cause the US to spend gobs of cash. Yeah. My best understanding based on watching a lot of retired military personnel is that isolated incidents cost the US almost exactly zero additional dollars. The way an Air Force base works is this: there is a budget. This covers the (considerable) costs of the base itself, the personnel, the equipment, and so on. Active-…
A potential flaw in this plan: while everything you say may be true, it is not broadly known . If China ( or whoever ) was to keep floating these things our way and we kept shooting them down at a don't worry about it, we're pot committed rate of ~$400k per incident, maybe people's blind faith in the military and politicians might be replaced with some rare curiosity, and maybe even displeasure ! (Though: it's not li…
Can you elaborate?
while everything you say may be true, it is not broadly known
anything that has the potential to wake up the American/Western
public from their dream state is a good thing in my books
What is the "dream state" that these incursions might shatter?
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#453> Officials said the object was far smaller than the previous balloon, did not appear to be maneuverable and was traveling at a much lower altitude. "Not maneuverable" and "previous balloon" so is it fair to assume that it's a balloon as well?
John Kirby called it an object today during the White House press briefing. He also said it was the size of a small car, unlike the balloon from China that was the size of 2-3 buses. Finally, Kirby said that the object could not direct its own propulsion or direction and was at the whim of the wind.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/live/rHGWmyyb9nI?feature=share
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#454> An F-22 fighter jet shot down the object using an A9X missile What a waste if $200k, shooting Chinese baloons. These shold be zapped using lasers.
Don't most f-22s come with a 20mil cannon? Wonder we we're preferring the missiles to just plain old lead?
Idk, but I'm guessing they treat it like target practice for the missiles.
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#455Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah but none of those things are cheap. A cannon is.
True, but the max effective range of the F-22’s 20mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon is about 2000 feet (600m), which isn’t nearly enough to engage these balloons — assuming an F-22 is flying at 40,000 ft. vs. a balloon at 60,000 ft. Even if the ceiling of the F-22 is substantially higher than 40,000 ft. (which I think is plausible), and is close enough to effectively engage these balloons, then I doubt that the Air Force would…
The USAF "fact sheet" page on the F-22[1] states "above 50,000 ft" flight ceiling. Wikipedia lists 65,000 ft but provides no easily verifiable citation (none of the citations for the section that I could retrieve online list that figure).
[1] https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/1045...
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#456Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#457Pot 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.
And it works because almost no one else on earth can gang radar to missile systems. So they can't shoot ours down. And we can shoot theirs down.
In case anyone else was unfamiliar, the usage of "gang" here appears to be the following: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gang#Verb_2
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#458Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800_conspiracy_theo...
From that very link you can find info on the recent litigation accusing the government of an errant missile hit. There is enough evidence to bring forth the suit whether you agree it is a conspiracy or not.
https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/citing-new-evidence-survivin...
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#459I 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?
Maybe Japanese fire balloons during WWII? "One of the most unusual military actions of World War II came in the form of Japanese balloon bombs, or “Fugos,” directed at the mainland United States. Starting in 1944, the Japanese military constructed and launched over 9,000 high-altitude balloons, each loaded with nearly 50 pounds of anti-personnel and incendiary explosives. Amazingly, these unmanned balloons originated…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estevan_Point_lighthouse
Much like this story, many Japanese planners did not appreciate the vast size of the American west. A hundred random firebombs were basically irrelevant compared to the many thousands of yearly lighting strikes that also regularly cause fires. Who knows how many Japanese balloons are out there hanging from some tree undiscovered.
Re: US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast
#460Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wasn’t Soleimani Iranian? Are you at war with Iran? Did he receive a fair trial?
It needs to be said; the list of Iranian terrorist attacks against America is very short. The list of Iranian terrorist attacks in America is even shorter. Most of the antagonism against Iran in America is motivated by Iran's relationship with other countries (Israel), not things they've done to America. I can't say that I feel any personal animosity towards Iran, I wish America would let Israelis handle Israeli affa…
> There were seven attacks in May, as many attacks that month as February, March and April combined, and there have been a total of 29 since October without a kinetic U.S. response.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/attacks-i...
We interdict Iranian missiles to terrorist groups about once a week.
Iran's stated goal is to forcibly convert the world to their preferred brand of theocratic rule - the "women are very literally property" kind of theocratic rule.