Talk of The Villages Florida
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Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)
-   The Villages, Florida, Non Villages Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-non-villages-discussion-93/)
-   -   Recovering a high altitude balloon (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-non-villages-discussion-93/recovering-high-altitude-balloon-339101/)

brewbob 02-18-2023 08:43 AM
Why a balloon anyway?
 
With current satellite images that can read a car's license plate.. why does any nation need a balloon? Maybe the balloon is just for showing other nations they CAN hoover over their territory. Sort of a visible middle finger.

Blackbird45 02-18-2023 09:13 AM
As I put in a previous posting, I'm sure they must have thought this out before it was shot down to where and how, but if I'm wrong there used to be a saying. What is an elephant? It a mouse built to government's specifications.

MidWestIA 02-18-2023 09:43 AM
new bite
 
new bite political image priceless - well with your money

OhioBuckeye 02-18-2023 10:06 AM
I’m thinking the same thing. Why would they use a missile to down a balloon.The machine guns they have on these jets could tear it in half with a burst from their machine guns. I guess they use missiles because we the tax payers are paying for them. Personally me as a U. S. citizen with very young family members , I know they are safe & there’s no doubt it’s down. But I agree with you!

Number 10 GI 02-18-2023 10:14 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by brewbob (Post 2188693)
With current satellite images that can read a car's license plate.. why does any nation need a balloon? Maybe the balloon is just for showing other nations they CAN hoover over their territory. Sort of a visible middle finger.
This article answers all your questions.

Spy balloons: what are they and why are they still being used? | China | The Guardian

Bill14564 02-18-2023 10:15 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhioBuckeye (Post 2188765)
I’m thinking the same thing. Why would they use a missile to down a balloon.The machine guns they have on these jets could tear it in half with a burst from their machine guns. I guess they use missiles because we the tax payers are paying for them. Personally me as a U. S. citizen with very young family members , I know they are safe & there’s no doubt it’s down. But I agree with you!
A previous post in this thread and two additional posts from another thread.

Worldseries27 02-18-2023 11:57 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by thirdoffive (Post 2188183)
off the top of my head...i'd say...first, you have to get there. Balloons can fly in excess of 170,000 feet. Weather balloons (such as what these chinese gasbags are reported to be) regularly fly in the neighborhood of 100,000 feet. In contrast, the sr-71 blackbird, america's high-flying spy plane (no longer in service) flew at about 85,000 feet. In other words, you'd be burning a whole lot of jet fuel to get within maybe three miles of the thing, and then have to shoot a projectile accurately from a vehicle moving at probably well over the speed of sound, to hit the balloon.

Bottom line: Missiles are much cheaper. And more accurate.
the answer to your question is they did not want to demonstrate their airborne laser systems for the sake of 400g. A pittance by any military standard of valuation.

HJBeck 02-18-2023 12:03 PM
Hey it’s the military, cost isn’t an issue and it’s good target practice. 😆 Agree with you. 100 rounds of 50 caliber will bring it down fast enough to control where it comes down, plus help preserve the package they want to evaluate.

hypart 02-18-2023 12:31 PM
We might as well use the missiles for something. Every year the military creates weapons. And their budget only increases. So the military makes more weapons the following year whether a weapon was used or not.

So let's use as many weapons as we can. Maybe that'll help with storage fees.

gmnirr 02-18-2023 01:05 PM
Why did the government spend $118,000 ...
 
... to see if Thanos (Marvel comics) really could snap his fingers inside of a metal glove.

Worldseries27 02-18-2023 01:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by hjbeck (Post 2188847)
hey it’s the military, cost isn’t an issue and it’s good target practice. 😆 agree with you. 100 rounds of 50 caliber will bring it down fast enough to control where it comes down, plus help preserve the package they want to evaluate.
once the decision was made to bring it down over our territorial waters small caliber weapons were no longer a viable option. You may have noticed there was no fiery explosion. A dummy missile sans warhead was deployed

tvbound 02-18-2023 01:34 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill14564 (Post 2188777)
A previous post in this thread and two additional posts from another thread.
Now you've went and done it. Facts can be so inconvenient and just get in the way of an uninformed/clueless rant...so knock it off! LOL

Worldseries27 02-18-2023 01:34 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by caymus (Post 2188194)
any issue with that besides making recovery more difficult? Didn't all the apollo capsules splash down outside of territorial waters?
yes. Outside territorial waters everything is salvageable eg china could have deployed attack sub to torpedo the spying equipment. The waters would have been deeper. The chinese subs are loitering outside all of our coasts just like ours do to russia and china for a potential first strike option.

Worldseries27 02-18-2023 01:45 PM
10 items or less line
 
3 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caymus (Post 2188200)
Recover it anyway. What are they going to do? Did the Chinese ever admit it was their property?
We were looking to scan the barcode

Worldseries27 02-18-2023 01:54 PM
Pearl harbor and the trojan horse redux
 
2 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by brewbob (Post 2188693)
with current satellite images that can read a car's license plate.. Why does any nation need a balloon? Maybe the balloon is just for showing other nations they can hoover over their territory. Sort of a visible middle finger.
as i've said in previous posts they could have lulled us into thinking it's just another balloon who cares?
Balloon at right apogee could have deployed mini nuke warheads to encompass our silos and strategic air bases. Don't forget the baloon's payload was depicted as to be the size of 3 city busses more than enough to deploy enough warheads to eliminate 1/3 of our nuclear triad


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