They're really beating a dead horse at this point.
US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
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Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#72This is third shoot down we’ve been told about. First was the Chinese balloon, second was the small less maneuverable vehicle off of Alaska, and this third one in Canadian airspace. Feels like some cold conflict we’ve been unaware of is heating up.
Yup, a switch has been flipped. Actions that may or may not have happened in the past, and are happening now, are no longer being tolerated. Between this and the CHIPS act I expect the current divestment from China to go from a trickle to flood..
Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#73I think China erred by sending such a large balloon that was visible to the naked eye, causing the American public to demand it be shot down. There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins.. a lot of times they fly too high for planes to reach, and under certain circumstances balloons are allowed through national airspace.. so if the balloon isn't causing a problem (like being a hazard to ai…
>erred by sending such a large I surmise you need large balloon to carry required instruments on one platform. Going forward IMO PRC just going to fly them higher, US can keep shooting them down... possible until they can't, both will reveal US capabilities. At minimum, finding out f22 + missile ceiling is worth the cost. PRC isn't going to stop program just because US domestic politics goes full retard, if anything,…
Serious question: was there ever any doubt that US military could shoot something down out of the sky no matter how high it flies? If they are doing this to determine capabilities, it's like staking at a grocery store to see if it sells milk.
Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#74Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#75So the F-22 is now 3-0 against balloons? And people had the audacity to call this plane a "failure"!
Who called the F-22 a failure? Are you thinking of the F-35? And anyway, isn't the F-22 due to be retired before the end of the decade, so wouldn't debating its merits be beating a dead horse?
Even F-35 criticisms don't hold all that much water, at least in terms of cost, given they are actually cheaper than the F-14 was when you adjust for inflation.
Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#76I think China erred by sending such a large balloon that was visible to the naked eye, causing the American public to demand it be shot down. There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins.. a lot of times they fly too high for planes to reach, and under certain circumstances balloons are allowed through national airspace.. so if the balloon isn't causing a problem (like being a hazard to ai…
>erred by sending such a large I surmise you need large balloon to carry required instruments on one platform. Going forward IMO PRC just going to fly them higher, US can keep shooting them down... possible until they can't, both will reveal US capabilities. At minimum, finding out f22 + missile ceiling is worth the cost. PRC isn't going to stop program just because US domestic politics goes full retard, if anything,…
Higher would be more expensive to shoot down, but given that we have missiles designed to shoot down satellites - at least in LEO - I don’t think it’ll be possible to use altitude as a means of evading response.
Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#77Is there a plausible explanation as to why the US government has not announced objects 2 & 3 are balloons, if they are balloons? They call them "objects", yet must know what they are. They wouldn't randomly missile unknowns.
If it's for reasons of secrecy, why announce it at all? The second one was in the middle of nowhere, it could easily have been ignored, or dismissed as a military exercise if anyone had made a fuss about it.
Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#78The US Government shooting down an Unidentified Flying Object sounds like the start of a science fiction film. If there were ever a bad time and place for actual aliens to come visit...
The most interesting thing to me is that the US federal government isn’t calling them “balloons” - or even “lighter than air craft”. It leaves open a lot of conspiracy type theories, and I just don’t see the motivation to do that
It “feels” to me like there’s something more than US/China brinksmanship going on.
Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#79...with Canada's permission; I think that should be said explicitly.
article states that it was on Canada's orders. I didn't know that was a thing, Canadian PM having the power to command US jets. Can anyone who knows more about NORAD weigh in with an ELI5?
Authorize US jets you mean? Canada is a close US ally, norad allows both US and Canada to learn about the object at the same time, and US may have offered to shoot it down with Canada’s permission since we probably have some new patrols in the area since Friday’s ballon
Re: US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada
#80Surely this is not the world's slowest declaration of war? Whoever country is sending whatever these artificial objects are, what can they possibly gain from this?
I don’t know exactly how fast the air currents at 40,000-60,000 feet will drive a balloon, but I would assume that this most recent balloon was already airborne by the time the previous one was discovered. As long as they don’t launch anymore starting last week, this particular episode should wind down peacefully. As to why use balloons instead of satellites, the most reasonable speculation I’ve seen is that they’re…
Large controllable balloons could probably be 'recalled' by instructing them to crash into the ocean. If any more big ones like the first balloon show up, it's probably on purpose.