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

US jet shoots down unknown object flying off Alaska coast

apnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

521–530 of 864 posts

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

#521

Post by HarryHirsch »

susiecambria wrote: post #453
consumer451 wrote: post #47

> 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

Weather balloons are disposable, they rise and expand in the process until they burst - the maximum size is somewhere between 5 and 10 meters, between a large car and a white van. The payload tends to have a parachute and a phone number (the ones from the Weather Service do).

There was something about fear being the mind-killer. Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam to the Red Telephone please - paging the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam!

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

#523

Post by heavyset_go »

frupert52 wrote: post #424
ren_engineer wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why does every debunking focus on the footage and ignore the fact the objects were also confirmed on radar? Do they just assume the Navy is filled with morons who decided to report this through the chain of command based on nothing but footage and didn't consider a lens flare?

Isn’t it better to let people underestimate us? Especially any potential adversary. Regardless, liminal warfare will continue to give rise to this kind of scenario so we should try not to outsmart ourselves in a desperate bid to be right

> Isn’t it better to let people underestimate us? Especially any potential adversary.

Depends on the domain. Underestimation could lead to perceptions of weakness and opportunity for attack. Even if you are prepared for attack, not getting attacked in the first place is better than getting attacked at all.

Same goes for positioning in negotiation.

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

#524

Post by dendrite9 »

irrational wrote: post #436
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?

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…

More than 500 Americans and more than 2000 Japanese died fighting in the Aleutian islands during WW2.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/battle-of-attu-60-years.htm

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

#525

Post by ncr100 »

throwaway4good wrote: post #12

I like how the measurement unit seems to be either small cars or school busses.

/s

If that unit causes you any pain, @throwaway4good, here is a translator perhaps to more native units:

https://www.converttobananas.com/

1 car == about 26 bananas.

Improvement?

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

#526

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

XorNot wrote: post #344
billyhoffman wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While RSA isn't a state-funded technology company, they did accept a $10M payment from the NSA to make their BSafe security product default to use the DUAL_EC_DRBG cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator. Which the NSA had designed and backdoored... https://www.theverge.com/2013/12/20/5231006/nsa-paid-10-mill...

Are the primary sources on this story from the Snowden leaks available somewhere? Even the article here points to another Reuters article which isn't available any more, and I've never been able to find out which documents people were referencing about this?

Check the torrents?

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

#528

Post by ilyt »

sundvor wrote: post #355
samwillis wrote: post #278

Earlier 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)

Absolutely. The value of F-22s actually launching some $400k AIM-9Xs not at training targets with a 100% success rate would be far, far greater than those unit costs. It's a crying shame the F-22 production line was shut down, so it's great to see it performing well. (Speaking as a DCS sim pilot with a long time interest in military aviation).

Oh yes the useful and oh so important lesson that F-22 is indeed capable of disposing of not only maneuverable airborne crafts but also non-maneuverable ones!

Clearly a baloon is so hard to dispose target that making sure the aircraft indeed can be up to this task is worth any money!

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

#529

Post by mey »

westhom wrote: post #522

At what altitude does something stop being geographic territory and start being a plane in the atmosphere?

There is no agreed upon height where territory boundaries end.

Legal Eagle actually covers that detail a bit in their coverage of the prior balloon.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P43wVDiZs8k

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

#530

Post by ilyt »

mr90210 wrote: post #443
mrleinad wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes, because some people apparently think there is a lesson here. The "it can be spy, shoot it down" is sound reasoning but "we need to test whether F-22 can shoot down balloons" does sound like clown speak.
Post reply on HN