QOTY:The Department of Defense, which has a $858B yearly budget, unsure what to do about a balloon.
46 Replies to “The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire”
Chinese spy balloon over ICMB missiles field in United States territory?
Probable Biden response: Let’s send another $500 billion to Ukraine to help them ensure their border integrity..(and ‘our democracy’)
You can’t offend the Chinese!
You might be called a wacist? Or worse, they might cut off the payments to Hunter.
General Milley is a useless piece of garbage and likely a communist himself. At the end of Trump’s term he repeatedly committed treason. Why didn’t they pop the thing over the ocean or remote areas?
Biden made the decision so there’s that. The balloon did a flyby of B.C. on its way to Montana…strange how we’re not hearing anything about Canadian airspace today from our gov’t stenographers.
Well, not really.
I can just HEAR … MY President Trump … in a news conference explaining how he ordered the “Chyyynahh” balloon to be shot down. A balloon sent from “Chyynahhh” to spy (or worse) on Americans in this great country. That we cannot allow “Chyyynahhhh” to invade our air space. And thanking the fine men and women serving in our military for keeping America safe from … “Chyyyyyynahhhhh-ese” aggression.
Meanwhile … Gen. Milley is studying his “white rage” handbook for how to avoid feeding-into AAPI hate.
Oh!
And our fine, fine, Sec. of State Antony Blinken Winken etc. has “postponed his trip to China … indefinitely” … ohhhhhhhh mommmmaaaaa … that’ll teach the ChiComs to fool around in our air space!!
Gen. Milley = when women rule the world.
Margaret Thatcher = Falkland Islands
NOT shooting down a manoeuvrable balloon, known to be spying, is treason. Starting at the top.
In Canada too!
Shooting it down is tougher than you think.
Really? Do you have any idea just how tough it is to get me to think?
Scenario: A ‘Democratic’ government has been completely subverted by a foreign country buying the elected politicians running it. And the media as well. What, if anything,, can/or should be done?
I know the United States has done this countless times to other countries, so maybe this is a matter of karma.
What do you think the US is doing with their X-37 space plane?
Same thing.
Yawn.
Space and 60.000ft is two different stories.
Not jumping on the bandwagon. I can think a multitude of reasons why nothing is perceivably being done about it. Examples:
1. Misinformation being accumulated
2. Studying the equipment affixed to the balloon
3. Leverage for future US activities by keeping it in the news and very public
4. Used as leverage towards other scenarios
5. Only showing the Chinese exactly what we want them to see
ETC. Rinse Lather Repeat
Yes, the current administration is a gaggle of buffoons. But, I choose to believe there are still some relatively good strategists in the DOD. Just because we haven’t blown it out of the sky isn’t because we can’t. It makes more sense for the Chinese to get a black eye while being unable to trust the information they’ve collected. Win…win.
Excellent reply. Intel assets have been out for a while following this thing. Simply shooting it at first sight doesn’t accomplish much.
What of retrieval was an option?
Tell that to our aircrew after a China fighter ran into the aircraft, causing it to land in China where they were taken hostage.
Tell what to them?
I know the incident you are talking about. The crew wasn’t trained on destroying the equipment and left some intact. The Chinese learned that the US knew how to track their submarines and intercept encrypted communications.
Bull… They know it, but not enough time to destroy it. They had to land or risk crashing because of the damage.
Try again.
I take it you never been on a aircrew.
Is that why they were spending time destroying CRT monitors?
Intel assets have been out for a while following this thing.
Based on what? More BS lies from the Biden folks..
Can you say Afghan all over again. Not prepared is the real answer.
Based on these showing up on ADSBexchange in the vicinity:
“All RC-135U aircraft are equipped with an aerial refueling system, giving it an unlimited flying range. Communication equipment includes high frequency, very high frequency, and ultra high frequency radios. The navigation equipment incorporates ground navigation radar, a solid state Doppler system, and an inertial navigation system that merges celestial observations and Global Positioning System data. Although the flight crew stations are similarly configured, the reconnaissance equipment is slightly unique within each airframe.
The aircraft are identified by their distinctive antennae arrays on the “chin” and wing tips, large cheek fairings, and extended tail.
Crew composition includes two pilots, one navigator, two airborne systems engineers, and a minimum of 10 electronic warfare officers, or “Ravens,” and six or more electronic, technical, and area specialists.”
Your point is what?
The China fighter ran into the American aircraft, causing damage so bad they had to land ASAP. It’s NOT and fighter and carries no weapon’s.
All aircrews at taught how to destroy the aircraft to keep it from falling to any bad-guys hands. But in this case they has little time.
Next time know what you are talking about.
The serious incident of April 2001 between the United States and the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) involved a collision over the South China Sea between a
U.S. Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane and a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval
F-8 fighter that crashed. After surviving the near-fatal accident, the U.S. crew made
an emergency landing of their damaged plane onto the PLA’s Lingshui airfield on
Hainan Island, and the PRC detained the 24 crew members for 11 days. Washington
and Beijing disagreed over the cause of the accident, the release of the crew and
plane, whether Washington would “apologize,” and the PRC’s right to inspect the EP-3
The same Intel assets that prevented what happened the last two years?
Wow….
If the US solution doesn’t involve the Macy’s Parade giant inflatable Winnie The Pooh, Joe’s on the take.
Weird how it’s basically a satellite hanging from a giant helium balloon. Are those solar panels? WTF is is powering? If it’s just a spy camera, don’t you think a battery would suffice? Something’s not adding up.
😀 It takes a lot of power to keep the pathogen alive in a warm and insulated environment before it’s dropped on middle America.
Exactly.
Heh … remember when certain Obama gave an order in Afganistan not to shoot until consulted with him?
Now it is deep into the ‘military’ bureaucracy, they gotta call the Chinese, the NATO, the Ruskis, to see what to do.
The two top to military ‘men’ have a reputation to save, they can’t just blow things in the sky.
Tell you a story.
In the 1950’s of the past century, the American and West Germany put some helium in those clear, see through balloons and waited for the west wind to blow.
There were a lot, don’t know how many, they flew and crashed mostly in former Czechoslovakia.
The balloons were, they say spreading leaflets, they had some electronics on them, had a kind of extension on the bottom that was supposed to destroy the load once it touched the ground.
As it was they mostly failed to self-destroy and the communists used them for propaganda, they brought them to the cities and exhibited them with detailed description of the electronics and mechanics.
They told the population that it was them rotting capitalist Americans and their running dogs, the Germans. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/foreign-policy/cold-war/berlin-wall-1962-1987/dvd/pdfs/vingettes/10_V-2.pdf
Firsthand report, experience.
I’m kinda surprised that nobody has taken any shots at this already, it is above Montana after all. It doesn’t appear to be “so far away” to not be able to though I’m not sure how high a bullet can go while still making an impact.
The USA is in a crisis of leadership, the idiot in the White House is compromised, each week a new obvious low in their tolerance of the idiot.
they claim it’s at 60.000. You going to need one heck of a gun
40000 ft is a bit far for most shooters and hand held weapons…
Of course there should be a few dozen Fulton Recovery systems laying around that could be used to capture it
Morons.. are more worried about leftist politics than national security.. I welcome our demise so I wont have to listen to them anymore..
Where’s the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?
Impeach Biden for treason. National security must always outweigh offending Chinese politicians.
Were’s that Uke with the shot gun , just when you need him. Maybe we can send alla $ or the unCOLON to the Ukraine to git the guy!
The Chinese don’t need balloons for spying, they got satellites.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…
Maybe we can put some music to it.
Surprisingly, no one is thinking of reasons why the balloon isn’t shot down.
An altimeter on a bomb was what came first to my mind.
(In adition to the spy equip for those who still aren’t thinking clearly)
I think we’ve been warned not to shoot it down.
… and we’re still buying all this made in China stuff.
Hey DOD, let me solve this for you in 2 seconds. Shoot it down, slightly. Out over Montana, the land of Big Empty, you have one of your $80 million jet fighters shoot a few holes in it, of time fused 20mm. Rounds put some nice holes in it, then explode elsewhere.
Little chips of shrapnel fall to the ground, harming nothing. Meanwhile the balloon loses altitude, and your Rescue Rangers capture it when it lands. Duh. Next?
China tests a new delivery mechanism for Covid-21, wholly dependent on the complacency of the Safe and Effective Brandon administration. The once proud and sovereign nation of the United States is now a giant, open-air flea – market, with no cover charge.
Joe Biden did the Chinese a favour by delaying shooting down the balloon until the recovery of it’s contents would be virtually impossible because the balloon had drifted into the ocean.
I don’t buy this was done for safety reasons. Biden and handlers have no problem risking WWIII over Ukraine intervention,, and ignoring scientific protocol on vaccines.
A 1 trillion dollar defence industry could not prevent 9-11, let alone this!.
Chinese spy balloon over ICMB missiles field in United States territory?
Probable Biden response: Let’s send another $500 billion to Ukraine to help them ensure their border integrity..(and ‘our democracy’)
You can’t offend the Chinese!
You might be called a wacist? Or worse, they might cut off the payments to Hunter.
General Milley is a useless piece of garbage and likely a communist himself. At the end of Trump’s term he repeatedly committed treason. Why didn’t they pop the thing over the ocean or remote areas?
Biden made the decision so there’s that. The balloon did a flyby of B.C. on its way to Montana…strange how we’re not hearing anything about Canadian airspace today from our gov’t stenographers.
Well, not really.
I can just HEAR … MY President Trump … in a news conference explaining how he ordered the “Chyyynahh” balloon to be shot down. A balloon sent from “Chyynahhh” to spy (or worse) on Americans in this great country. That we cannot allow “Chyyynahhhh” to invade our air space. And thanking the fine men and women serving in our military for keeping America safe from … “Chyyyyyynahhhhh-ese” aggression.
Meanwhile … Gen. Milley is studying his “white rage” handbook for how to avoid feeding-into AAPI hate.
Oh!
And our fine, fine, Sec. of State Antony Blinken Winken etc. has “postponed his trip to China … indefinitely” … ohhhhhhhh mommmmaaaaa … that’ll teach the ChiComs to fool around in our air space!!
Gen. Milley = when women rule the world.
Margaret Thatcher = Falkland Islands
NOT shooting down a manoeuvrable balloon, known to be spying, is treason. Starting at the top.
In Canada too!
Shooting it down is tougher than you think.
Really? Do you have any idea just how tough it is to get me to think?
Scenario: A ‘Democratic’ government has been completely subverted by a foreign country buying the elected politicians running it. And the media as well. What, if anything,, can/or should be done?
I know the United States has done this countless times to other countries, so maybe this is a matter of karma.
What do you think the US is doing with their X-37 space plane?
Same thing.
Yawn.
Space and 60.000ft is two different stories.
Not jumping on the bandwagon. I can think a multitude of reasons why nothing is perceivably being done about it. Examples:
1. Misinformation being accumulated
2. Studying the equipment affixed to the balloon
3. Leverage for future US activities by keeping it in the news and very public
4. Used as leverage towards other scenarios
5. Only showing the Chinese exactly what we want them to see
ETC. Rinse Lather Repeat
Yes, the current administration is a gaggle of buffoons. But, I choose to believe there are still some relatively good strategists in the DOD. Just because we haven’t blown it out of the sky isn’t because we can’t. It makes more sense for the Chinese to get a black eye while being unable to trust the information they’ve collected. Win…win.
Excellent reply. Intel assets have been out for a while following this thing. Simply shooting it at first sight doesn’t accomplish much.
What of retrieval was an option?
Tell that to our aircrew after a China fighter ran into the aircraft, causing it to land in China where they were taken hostage.
Tell what to them?
I know the incident you are talking about. The crew wasn’t trained on destroying the equipment and left some intact. The Chinese learned that the US knew how to track their submarines and intercept encrypted communications.
Bull… They know it, but not enough time to destroy it. They had to land or risk crashing because of the damage.
Try again.
I take it you never been on a aircrew.
Is that why they were spending time destroying CRT monitors?
Intel assets have been out for a while following this thing.
Based on what? More BS lies from the Biden folks..
Can you say Afghan all over again. Not prepared is the real answer.
Based on these showing up on ADSBexchange in the vicinity:
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104495/rc-135u-combat-sent/
“All RC-135U aircraft are equipped with an aerial refueling system, giving it an unlimited flying range. Communication equipment includes high frequency, very high frequency, and ultra high frequency radios. The navigation equipment incorporates ground navigation radar, a solid state Doppler system, and an inertial navigation system that merges celestial observations and Global Positioning System data. Although the flight crew stations are similarly configured, the reconnaissance equipment is slightly unique within each airframe.
The aircraft are identified by their distinctive antennae arrays on the “chin” and wing tips, large cheek fairings, and extended tail.
Crew composition includes two pilots, one navigator, two airborne systems engineers, and a minimum of 10 electronic warfare officers, or “Ravens,” and six or more electronic, technical, and area specialists.”
Your point is what?
The China fighter ran into the American aircraft, causing damage so bad they had to land ASAP. It’s NOT and fighter and carries no weapon’s.
All aircrews at taught how to destroy the aircraft to keep it from falling to any bad-guys hands. But in this case they has little time.
Next time know what you are talking about.
The serious incident of April 2001 between the United States and the People’s
Republic of China (PRC) involved a collision over the South China Sea between a
U.S. Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane and a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval
F-8 fighter that crashed. After surviving the near-fatal accident, the U.S. crew made
an emergency landing of their damaged plane onto the PLA’s Lingshui airfield on
Hainan Island, and the PRC detained the 24 crew members for 11 days. Washington
and Beijing disagreed over the cause of the accident, the release of the crew and
plane, whether Washington would “apologize,” and the PRC’s right to inspect the EP-3
The same Intel assets that prevented what happened the last two years?
Wow….
If the US solution doesn’t involve the Macy’s Parade giant inflatable Winnie The Pooh, Joe’s on the take.
Weird how it’s basically a satellite hanging from a giant helium balloon. Are those solar panels? WTF is is powering? If it’s just a spy camera, don’t you think a battery would suffice? Something’s not adding up.
😀 It takes a lot of power to keep the pathogen alive in a warm and insulated environment before it’s dropped on middle America.
Exactly.
Heh … remember when certain Obama gave an order in Afganistan not to shoot until consulted with him?
Now it is deep into the ‘military’ bureaucracy, they gotta call the Chinese, the NATO, the Ruskis, to see what to do.
The two top to military ‘men’ have a reputation to save, they can’t just blow things in the sky.
Tell you a story.
In the 1950’s of the past century, the American and West Germany put some helium in those clear, see through balloons and waited for the west wind to blow.
There were a lot, don’t know how many, they flew and crashed mostly in former Czechoslovakia.
The balloons were, they say spreading leaflets, they had some electronics on them, had a kind of extension on the bottom that was supposed to destroy the load once it touched the ground.
As it was they mostly failed to self-destroy and the communists used them for propaganda, they brought them to the cities and exhibited them with detailed description of the electronics and mechanics.
They told the population that it was them rotting capitalist Americans and their running dogs, the Germans.
https://www.archives.gov/files/research/foreign-policy/cold-war/berlin-wall-1962-1987/dvd/pdfs/vingettes/10_V-2.pdf
Firsthand report, experience.
I’m kinda surprised that nobody has taken any shots at this already, it is above Montana after all. It doesn’t appear to be “so far away” to not be able to though I’m not sure how high a bullet can go while still making an impact.
The USA is in a crisis of leadership, the idiot in the White House is compromised, each week a new obvious low in their tolerance of the idiot.
they claim it’s at 60.000. You going to need one heck of a gun
40000 ft is a bit far for most shooters and hand held weapons…
Of course there should be a few dozen Fulton Recovery systems laying around that could be used to capture it
How do they know its Chinese?
The “Made in China” tag kinda gives it away…
Further on how they know its Chinese:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/02/heh-chinese-balloon-edition.html
It was launched from an Amazon delivery van.
Morons.. are more worried about leftist politics than national security.. I welcome our demise so I wont have to listen to them anymore..
Where’s the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?
Impeach Biden for treason. National security must always outweigh offending Chinese politicians.
Were’s that Uke with the shot gun , just when you need him. Maybe we can send alla $ or the unCOLON to the Ukraine to git the guy!
The Chinese don’t need balloons for spying, they got satellites.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…
Maybe we can put some music to it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=enuOArEfqGo
Surprisingly, no one is thinking of reasons why the balloon isn’t shot down.
An altimeter on a bomb was what came first to my mind.
(In adition to the spy equip for those who still aren’t thinking clearly)
I think we’ve been warned not to shoot it down.
… and we’re still buying all this made in China stuff.
Hey DOD, let me solve this for you in 2 seconds. Shoot it down, slightly. Out over Montana, the land of Big Empty, you have one of your $80 million jet fighters shoot a few holes in it, of time fused 20mm. Rounds put some nice holes in it, then explode elsewhere.
Little chips of shrapnel fall to the ground, harming nothing. Meanwhile the balloon loses altitude, and your Rescue Rangers capture it when it lands. Duh. Next?
China tests a new delivery mechanism for Covid-21, wholly dependent on the complacency of the Safe and Effective Brandon administration. The once proud and sovereign nation of the United States is now a giant, open-air flea – market, with no cover charge.
Joe Biden did the Chinese a favour by delaying shooting down the balloon until the recovery of it’s contents would be virtually impossible because the balloon had drifted into the ocean.
I don’t buy this was done for safety reasons. Biden and handlers have no problem risking WWIII over Ukraine intervention,, and ignoring scientific protocol on vaccines.
A 1 trillion dollar defence industry could not prevent 9-11, let alone this!.