Chinese spy balloon

[Giorgio N]

23 minutes ago, Duncan B said:

I think the "clandestinely" part is the operative part. Someone wanted the Americans to see it, one suggestion is that the PR Army launched it, without the big boss knowing, to scupper the US/China summit.

 

Duncan B

 

This was not a single balloon, it was just the latest of a number over the last few years. The difference is that this time the US has disclosed its presence in their airspace and destroyed it while all previous balloons were for some reason never talked about and, for what is known, not intercepted. 

For this reason it's unlikely this was an attempt from some part to create tension, sounds more like a long term program

[Dogtail2]

57 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

 

This was not a single balloon, it was just the latest of a number over the last few years. The difference is that this time the US has disclosed its presence in their airspace and destroyed it while all previous balloons were for some reason never talked about and, for what is known, not intercepted. 

 

When, and to which other balloons do you refer ?

[Giorgio N]

2 hours ago, Dogtail2 said:

When, and to which other balloons do you refer ?

 

The Pentagon recently revealed that a number of similar flights occurred in the past few years, at least 3 have been mentioned

[Jochen Barett]

17 hours ago, stevehnz said:

I haven't seen the most recent items to have been shot down (has anyone) but one thing that struck me was, if you want to clandestinely survey another country from a huge balloon, why would you leave it white to be seen against a blue sky, haven't these coots ever heard of PRU blue or light mediterranean blue or similar. I feel sure the fabric could be made in whatever colour you want with minimal weight penalty.

Steve.

It was a favour the Chinese owed me. I asked them to chose a color easily reproduced on a plastic model withtout the usual discussions in this forum. 😎

 

Fortunately it was (and probably still is) the favorite color of a key person involved, so "the person" (I will not reveal the person's gender by saying "he" oder "she")) convinced everybdoy else in the project team that a white balloon would be less subject to temparature changes induced by sunlight and even though a silver balloon would perform even better in this respect, silver paint would have meant additional weight (and radar is color blind anyway),

[sinnerboy]

For Valentines,  I bought the missus a hot air ballon trip across the US 😄

[Duncan B]

On 2/15/2023 at 9:17 AM, Giorgio N said:

 

This was not a single balloon, it was just the latest of a number over the last few years. The difference is that this time the US has disclosed its presence in their airspace and destroyed it while all previous balloons were for some reason never talked about and, for what is known, not intercepted. 

For this reason it's unlikely this was an attempt from some part to create tension, sounds more like a long term program

Indeed that's true but the US decided to go public this time for some reason when previous administrations decided not to. I still think there is a political motive to the most recent events as well as an ongoing surveillance operation.

 

Duncan B

[colin]

A case of 'we know what your doing and have had enough of it now' 😄

[Dogtail2]

1 hour ago, colin said:

A case of 'we know what your doing and have had enough of it now' 😄

More a case of ' Don't look there, look over here ' 

Distraction. 

[Longbow]

So the one shot down over Lake Huron turns out to be a Hobby Groups Weather balloon. $13 worth, shot down with a really, really, expensive missile, after the first one missed…

 

Gotta love the US .Gov.
 

 

[Nachtwulf]

https://www.reaperpatches.com/products/float-around-and-find-out-pop-it-2023

 

Here's a patch to commemorate the incident.

 

[Mark]

The one thing that I’ve taken away from this thread is how pretty the M-17 is! 💖

[Col Walter E Kurtz]

All this talk of Spy balloons has left me somewhat...Deflated

I see balloons around my district every day, mostly connected to some teenage 'herberts' killing off their brain cells with NOx  when thy should be using the said gas to whip UHT catering cream in to a frenzy!

......I think there is some Chinese Triad criminal gang trying to import Nitrous Oxide gas in to the UK using large balloons , disguised as said Spy Balloons.. 

 

🤣🤣

[Pete in Lincs]