551–560 of 864 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
It probably meant the continental USA.
I like how the measurement unit seems to be either small cars or school busses.
Americans will measure with anything except the metric system.
It doesn't matter what the object was, it's that America's adversaries know they can do it without consequences, and what makes them believe this is what matters about this story. That is the irreversible change it signifies, imo.
Is there a reason F-22s are being used to take these balloons down? Is it to take advantage of a training opportunity? I would think less advanced aircraft may be more cost effective to operate.
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.
That’s funny, because this was my exact thought. How can they distinguish the difference when they say ‘unknown’ object…
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.
The world will run out of helium before the US runs out of missiles.
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.
Is there a reason F-22s are being used to take these balloons down? Is it to take advantage of a training opportunity? I would think less advanced aircraft may be more cost effective to operate.
Two kills in two weeks? What an amazing 334 million USD aircraft. We should have more!
So what’s the deal with these balloons? Provocation? Do they think nobody will notice?
It could be to gradually increase reaction expectations so it would not be surprising if China shot down one of the USA's drones. Or perhaps escalate by using their previously demonstrated ability to blow up satellites. The balloon was a very public microaggression that forced the USA to respond in a very public way. China tried the public "oops it was a weather balloon" to give the USA a chance to back off the publi…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also maybe gives China cover/justification to start shooting down these low satellites.
No. Shooting down satellites is a very different thing.
(One could make the same argument for the U.S., but that’s not the open question at the moment.)