Author Topic: One of 99 red baloons goes by...  (Read 15891 times)

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Offline AndyBeezTopic starter

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One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« on: February 03, 2023, 11:53:26 pm »
 :palm: Maybe the only place to post this story...

USA Today: Blinken postpones China trip amid spy balloon row; US officials scramble to get rid of it...

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/03/spy-balloon-china-civilian-airship-updates-reaction/11177611002/

“We know that it’s a surveillance balloon,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, later told reporters.

The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
99 1 red balloons go by
 
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Offline themadhippy

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2023, 11:59:09 pm »
yet again the yanks getting arsey because someone's doing to them what they've been doing to others for years
 
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Offline AVGresponding

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2023, 08:15:03 am »
The original German lyric just has balloons, without colour (luftballons). They had to add the word "red" to make the lyric fit the rhythm in the English translation.

I try to mention at least one useless fact per day.
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Offline iMo

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2023, 09:59:50 am »
I've read somewhere they have not decided not shoot it down because of some political reasons, but because they do not know how to shoot it down.. And yes, Nena, it is 40y now..   :palm:
« Last Edit: February 04, 2023, 10:02:44 am by imo »
 
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Offline Haenk

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2023, 10:35:49 am »
Adding another fact of the day - Japan sent balloons equipped with a large amount of explosives and boobytraps directed towards the USA.
Of course, that has been during WW2.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb
 
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Offline themadhippy

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2023, 01:08:50 pm »
The politicians should heed the advise of the b side and stay in bed instead of playing with balloons
 
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Offline AndyBeezTopic starter

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2023, 08:55:14 pm »
Uncle Joe pops China's balloon over unpopulated Atlantic.
Quote
"Asked if the balloon was going to be shot down, Biden gave a thumbs up to reporters."

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-says-us-is-going-take-care-of-chinese-balloon-2023-02-04/

 :-// Seriously? The Chinese have their own space station. So I think they've been looking down on the parts of America not already covered by Google Earth for a long while. Whilst their cheap tech has been dialling home for decades.

99 knights of the air
Ride super high-tech jet fighters
Everyone's a superhero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk Joe Biden
...

Quote
"The Pentagon said on Friday that another Chinese balloon was observed over Latin America, without saying where exactly."
« Last Edit: February 04, 2023, 11:41:19 pm by AndyBeez »
 

Offline iMo

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2023, 09:07:01 pm »
They did it over Atlantic coast because of the missile landing in the ocean, worst case.. Good shot, indeed. :)
I wonder what they will find, all encrypted, most probably..
PS: I saw such a "luftballon" in person flying over the (now an EU) city I lived in late 70ties, as I can remember.. A bright star on blue sky slowly flying east direction..
« Last Edit: February 04, 2023, 09:16:50 pm by imo »
 
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Online SiliconWizard

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2023, 09:16:47 pm »
yet again the yanks getting arsey because someone's doing to them what they've been doing to others for years

Yeah. But to be fair, that's the game of all intelligence agencies everywhere in the world, so that's not specific to the US. Spying on others is a core activity and of course they'll do as much as they can to prevent others from spying on them. News at eleven.

Sure the US sound more vocal about it, just like they are about others' military operations when their own is always moral and justified. But that's the case for every country in the world. Again news at eleven.

And you can rest assured that what we can *see* is probably only a very anecdotical fraction of what is happening in terms of spying. Intelligence agencies tend to be discreet.

 
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Offline Stray Electron

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2023, 11:27:09 pm »
   What is truely interesting to me is that apparently the Chinese have flown balloons over the US before but the US intelligence agencies (an oxymoron if ever there was one!) never told the public about them. This time a private person in Montana spotted this one and reported it on Twitter and that started the sht storm. I have to think that if they were a threat then the US Gov would have said something publicly before now and they would have done something to shot them down over the Pacific and before they reached the US. It seems like this time, the US Gov is only reacting because the dolts in the news media are all crying that the sky is falling!

   OTOH if the Chinese optics aren't very good or if they wanted a much better view of something, then flying a balloon at 60,000 feet would be better than flying a satellite at 100+ miles (528,000+ ft) and probably a lot cheaper to boot. 
 
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Offline themadhippy

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #10 on: February 05, 2023, 01:36:34 am »
wonder how much all those planes and the missile that got the shot cost the american tax payer? If i was  a mischievous chinese politician id be buying as much helium and balloons as i could get my hands on
 
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Offline Stray Electron

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2023, 01:46:55 am »
  I worry about the state of the US MIL. It took them two days and a missile and God only knows how many flights of aircraft to shoot down one balloon that for all practical purposes was standing still.

  The Chinese must be laughing their asses off.
 
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Offline John B

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2023, 02:18:35 am »
wonder how much all those planes and the missile that got the shot cost the american tax payer? If i was  a mischievous chinese politician id be buying as much helium and balloons as i could get my hands on

Seems like a viable strategy of attrition. Sounds like the Gaza strip, where anti-missile missiles vastly outclass ancient unguided rockets, but cost far more. Rockets could be filled with cow poo, but if the enemy spends a missile on it, its caused damage in it's own way.
 
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Offline aeberbach

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #13 on: February 05, 2023, 02:29:20 am »
I just loved how it was suggested that ordinary people could shoot it down from their back yards. That thing 11 miles up in the sky...
Software guy studying B.Eng.
 
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Offline coppercone2

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #14 on: February 05, 2023, 02:50:58 am »
  I worry about the state of the US MIL. It took them two days and a missile and God only knows how many flights of aircraft to shoot down one balloon that for all practical purposes was standing still.

  The Chinese must be laughing their asses off.

well how would it be if some crowd of people got smashed when the solar panel or whatever on that thing fell down when it lost structural integrity 1 mile above a city after a missile attack? You don't know how it will get ruptured, it might just get damaged, and then its a huge sail basically that could carry it almost anywhere when its so high up. And they basically seem to be spying on underground objects that are dormant 99.9% of the time save for some people changing shifts.

the chinese are gonna report that airman for punching out early friday. And that guy that took the unauthorized smoke break. ::)

Or if it falls on the interstate and makes a 100 vehicle pile up.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2023, 02:56:39 am by coppercone2 »
 
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Offline Stray Electron

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #15 on: February 05, 2023, 03:41:14 am »
  I worry about the state of the US MIL. It took them two days and a missile and God only knows how many flights of aircraft to shoot down one balloon that for all practical purposes was standing still.

  The Chinese must be laughing their asses off.

well how would it be if some crowd of people got smashed when the solar panel or whatever on that thing fell down when it lost structural integrity 1 mile above a city after a missile attack? You don't know how it will get ruptured, it might just get damaged, and then its a huge sail basically that could carry it almost anywhere when its so high up. And they basically seem to be spying on underground objects that are dormant 99.9% of the time save for some people changing shifts.

the chinese are gonna report that airman for punching out early friday. And that guy that took the unauthorized smoke break. ::)

Or if it falls on the interstate and makes a 100 vehicle pile up.

            Obviously you've never been to Montana! 
 
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Offline themadhippy

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #16 on: February 05, 2023, 03:56:48 am »
 
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Offline coppercone2

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #17 on: February 05, 2023, 04:07:22 am »
  I worry about the state of the US MIL. It took them two days and a missile and God only knows how many flights of aircraft to shoot down one balloon that for all practical purposes was standing still.

  The Chinese must be laughing their asses off.

well how would it be if some crowd of people got smashed when the solar panel or whatever on that thing fell down when it lost structural integrity 1 mile above a city after a missile attack? You don't know how it will get ruptured, it might just get damaged, and then its a huge sail basically that could carry it almost anywhere when its so high up. And they basically seem to be spying on underground objects that are dormant 99.9% of the time save for some people changing shifts.

the chinese are gonna report that airman for punching out early friday. And that guy that took the unauthorized smoke break. ::)

Or if it falls on the interstate and makes a 100 vehicle pile up.

            Obviously you've never been to Montana!

Until they have the grappling hook ship from startrek enterprise, I don't think we should be shooting down anything above land. What you need is another balloon with a larger payload that can anchor itself to the other balloon, then deflate it and bring the material down properly. Hindenburg II. Or Graff Zeppelin M1B. Then hopefully in 50 years we can have a declassified youtube video that says something along the lines of "the air force , in partnership with the good year corporation..."

And the air force sky raiders that swing from ropes to disable drone balloon engines and cut it up with cutlasses . Suddenly the movie sky captain does not seem as ridiculous anymore.

And also it can cause a hell of a power outage.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2023, 04:21:23 am by coppercone2 »
 
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Offline james_s

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #18 on: February 05, 2023, 04:52:03 am »
I'm baffled as to why they didn't shoot it down before it got to the ocean, it would likely make it a lot easier to recover and analyze, and throughout a large portion of its trip across the country the population is so sparse that the chance of it hitting someone or even damaging their property is negligible.

As far as possibly ticking off China, if we go with their story that it's a weather platform then it's already far off course and thus has either completed its mission or failed. Since it's a free flying balloon it's obviously expendable so they would have no legitimate reason to complain about it being shot down. Whatever it was intended to do, it almost certainly already did it and sent back the data.
 
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Offline iMo

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #19 on: February 05, 2023, 08:17:39 am »
I'm baffled as to why they didn't shoot it down before it got to the ocean, it would likely make it a lot easier to recover and analyze, and throughout a large portion of its trip across the country the population is so sparse that the chance of it hitting someone or even damaging their property is negligible. ..
You cannot shoot a luftballon down with an onboard gun easily (if any on the board). You do not want shoot an air-air missile over an populated area.. In case of a miss and failing self-destruction it may fly another hundred miles and land in someone's house.. While flying east direction the only suitable place has been the east coast, imho..
 
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Offline mfro

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #20 on: February 05, 2023, 09:09:14 am »
I don't believe this was a misguided weather balloon.

Neither a spy in the sky balloon.

Probably more like a "let's see what they let us get away with" balloon.
Beethoven wrote his first symphony in C.
 
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Offline Marco

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #21 on: February 05, 2023, 09:26:45 am »
As far as possibly ticking off China, if we go with their story that it's a weather platform then it's already far off course and thus has either completed its mission or failed. Since it's a free flying balloon it's obviously expendable so they would have no legitimate reason to complain about it being shot down. Whatever it was intended to do, it almost certainly already did it and sent back the data.

Then the next story could be "oops we had a small radioactive source in there for experiment" and you have the recent Australian situation but far worse. Would be utterly stupid levels of provocation, but we're beyond that.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2023, 09:29:05 am by Marco »
 
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Offline iMo

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #22 on: February 05, 2023, 09:47:35 am »
It could easily monitor the US radar signals/patterns while tracking the luftballon over the country, or, while guiding the missile towards it. The data are relayed to a geostationary satellite on-line, and that's it..
 
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Online SiliconWizard

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #23 on: February 05, 2023, 08:38:03 pm »
I don't believe this was a misguided weather balloon.

Neither a spy in the sky balloon.

Probably more like a "let's see what they let us get away with" balloon.

Since China apparently didn't go great lengths at hiding it, to me it looks more like provocation than real spying. But who knows.
Now the spying is all over the place in both directions, for sure, but in a lot less obvious ways for the most part.
 
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Offline james_s

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Re: One of 99 red baloons goes by...
« Reply #24 on: February 05, 2023, 09:05:20 pm »
You cannot shoot a luftballon down with an onboard gun easily (if any on the board). You do not want shoot an air-air missile over an populated area.. In case of a miss and failing self-destruction it may fly another hundred miles and land in someone's house.. While flying east direction the only suitable place has been the east coast, imho..

Why not? Put a bunch of holes in it and it will come down eventually. If it gradually deflates and settles to earth that is an ideal situation. It was flying at around 60k feet which is within reach of an F-15. The thing was massive as it could be seen from the ground so hitting it doesn't seem difficult once you're up there.
 
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