The Chinese Spy Balloon Saga

TheDawn · Feb 13, 2023

gwb-trading said:
Because as soon as you deflate the balloon at 60,000 feet the 1000 pound payload comes down to earth at a terminal velocity speed of over 120 mph -- which would leave a pile of debris on hard ground. Taking it down in shallow water ensures cushioning on landing which will stop the gear of interest from disintegrating into small pieces -- and allowing easy recovery in the shallow depth. However all of this has already been explained by military officials.
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Oh I was going to say because it's more fun to shoot it down, scoring some points with the people, showing off our mightiness a bit...

ids · Feb 13, 2023

Where did you get this, "Apparently, the Chinese has been sending balloons "overseeing" the USA sky for the past 10 years"?

ids · Feb 13, 2023

ids · Feb 13, 2023

It means these are aliens, 100%.

destriero · Feb 13, 2023

ids said:
Where did you get this, "Apparently, the Chinese has been sending balloons "overseeing" the USA sky for the past 10 years"?
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The DoD/Pentagon. RIF.

wrbtrader · Feb 13, 2023

destriero said:
The DoD/Pentagon. RIF.
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Hey Destriero,

Let us say China made a mistake and sent one of those balloons over your house/property at like 1,000 to 1,500 meters high instead of 60,000 feet...

Do you think you can take it out with an Army M24 sniper weapon or would you prefer to use another type of weapon to shoot down the ballon ?

I ask the above question because I was in a discussion with my brother (a Doctor in South Dakota) last night about these ballons from China. He's an avid Elk hunter and owns a 7mm Remington Magnum and thinks that would be good enough for 2,000 verticle shot...I disagree.

Yet, I've seen the McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle in action...used by a military buddy shooting at a target UP on a cliff among some boulders. I was in the U.S. military and he was in the Canadian military.

Today, he lives down the street from me here in Québec, Canada.

The furthest target I took down (horizontal) was about 1,200 meters with an Army M24 and with the help of my spotter...we took down a Moose. I've never tried to shoot down a verticle-moving target with a rifle/scope. A verticle-moving target...a spotter would definitely be needed.

I think the farthest shot is held by a Canadian special forces soldier of +3,000 feet (kill shot)...slightly elevated.

Doable with a laser rangefinder ?

wrbtrader

destriero · Feb 13, 2023

A tough call. These high alt/atmospheric balloons are sealed, so my guess is that even a 7mm would take it down. I have a 338 Lapua and most certainly it would. A passenger balloon is vented and would not be taken down by even a 50-cal.

ph1l · Feb 13, 2023

CaptainObvious said:
One known balloon, three UFO's to date. Pilots saying, they could see no propulsion system on the last object shot down. No evidence gathered from wreckage from UFO's while wreckage was obtained within a few hours of the balloon shot down.
Recalibration of radar now showing multiple objects overhead which have gone undetected for years, probably decades. Government scrambling in a state of chaos to provide some reasonable explanation. Any way you slice it, not a good look.
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Saturday's UFO appears to be a a small, metallic balloon with a payload.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/13/politics/pentagon-memo-canada-small-balloon/index.html

Pentagon memo says object shot down over Canada was a ‘small, metallic balloon’
By Zachary Cohen and Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 6:05 PM EST, Mon February 13, 2023

The unidentified flying object shot down in Canadian airspace on Saturday appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it,” according to a Pentagon memo sent to lawmakers on Monday and obtained by CNN.

The memo offers the first official details of one of the three objects shot down in recent days that was previously described as a “cylindrical object.”

The object crossed near “US sensitive sites” before it was shot down, the memo said.

Defense officials also wrote in the memo to lawmakers that the object shot down over Lake Huron, in Michigan on Sunday, “subsequently slowly descended” into the water after impact.

White House offers few answers on objects shot from sky

The new details in the memo come as lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pressing to gain a better understanding of why the Biden administration shot down three unidentified objects in three days following the take down of the Chinese spy balloon that traversed the US the previous weekend.

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Lawmakers and congressional aides told CNN that the consecutive shoot-downs felt on the surface like an overcorrection to the Chinese spy balloon incident, though they cautioned that it was still too early to say definitively.

“What’s happening now is we’re actually looking for these with extra vigilance. We’re looking for them in different ways. We’re starting to see them in different ways,” Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow said on “CNN This Morning” on Monday.

“My speculative guess as why we’re seeing these things happen in quick succession is now we’re really attuned to looking for them, right?” Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.

“The truth is that most of our sensors and most of what we were looking for didn’t look like balloons. Now, of course, we’re looking for them. So, I think we’re probably finding more stuff,” Himes added.

The Senate is holding a classified briefing for all senators on the shot down objects on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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The White House on Monday denied that President Joe Biden’s recent swift actions to take down high-altitude objects identified hovering over American airspace were the result of political pressure, following earlier critiques that he waited too long to make the call to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

Here's everything we still don't know about the unidentified objects

“These were decisions based purely and simply on what was in the best interest of the American people,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said Monday.

A defense official said that the radar used by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was adjusted after the initial high-altitude balloon sighting. “We continue to refine detection settings, and that won’t stop just because we have identified these smaller objects,” the official said.

A US official told CNN this past weekend there has been caution inside the administration on the pilot descriptions of the unidentified objects due to the circumstances in which the objects were viewed.

“These objects did not closely resemble and were much smaller than the PRC balloon and we will not definitively characterize them until we can recover the debris, which we are working on,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.

The memo says that the object shot down over Alaska on Friday was the “size of a small car” and not similar to the Chinese balloon shot off the coast of South Carolina.

“We have no further details about the object at this time, including the full scope of its capabilities, its purpose, or its origin,” the Pentagon memo says.

A trio of new intrusions leaves America's leaders grasping for explanations

The memo said that “recovery/exploitation” efforts were underway to retrieve the object shot down in Canada’s Yukon territory, noting that both US and Canadian officials were attempting to identify debris.

Canadian officials are leading that investigation, though the FBI was embedded with them, according to the memo.

“It should not be assumed that the events of the past few days are connected,” the Pentagon noted in the memo.

US Coast Guard ships were deployed to search the site in Lake Huron where the third object was shot down, and the Pentagon memo said no additional information was available about the description of that object.

“The priority is now recovery and exploitation of the object,” the memo said.
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Maybe free shipping of balloons should be outlawed?
https://www.temu.com/20pcs-metallic...decoration-balloon-set-g-601099513758785.html

destriero · Feb 13, 2023

I can hit MOA out to 1200 with ease with the wind holds/subtensions on the Nightforce and a 7.62 SA. While moving (MOA) at say 2000? Impossible. MOA at 2000m is <30". A weather balloon is like 30 MOA and would be easy, unless the shooter is moving.

ph1l · Feb 13, 2023

wrbtrader said:
Hey Destriero,

Let us say China made a mistake and sent one of those balloons over your house/property at like 1,000 to 1,500 meters high instead of 60,000 feet...

Do you think you can take it out with an Army M24 sniper weapon or would you prefer to use another type of weapon to shoot down the ballon ?

I ask the above question because I was in a discussion with my brother (a Doctor in South Dakota) last night about these ballons from China. He's an avid Elk hunter and owns a 7mm Remington Magnum and thinks that would be good enough for 2,000 verticle shot...I disagree.

Yet, I've seen the McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle in action...used by a military buddy shooting at a target UP on a cliff among some boulders. I was in the U.S. military and he was in the Canadian military.

Today, he lives down the street from me here in Québec, Canada.

The furthest target I took down (horizontal) was about 1,200 meters with an Army M24 and with the help of my spotter...we took down a Moose. I've never tried to shoot down a verticle-moving target with a rifle/scope. A verticle-moving target...a spotter would definitely be needed.

I think the farthest shot is held by a Canadian special forces soldier of +3,000 feet (kill shot)...slightly elevated.

Doable with a laser rangefinder ?

wrbtrader
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Puncturing the balloon might not take it down too quickly.
https://apnews.com/article/268893fddde785d029d5a51b136951eb

Canada Research Balloon Floats Away
August 29, 1998
...
Jet fighters trying to bring the balloon down fired more than 1,000 rounds into it Thursday, but it remained aloft. The air force hopes the now-leaking balloon will eventually come down.
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