[brewbob]

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]

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]

new bite political image priceless - well with your money

[OhioBuckeye]

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]

Originally Posted by brewbob

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]

Originally Posted by OhioBuckeye

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]

Originally Posted by thirdoffive

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]

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]

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]

... to see if Thanos (Marvel comics) really could snap his fingers inside of a metal glove.

[Worldseries27]

Originally Posted by hjbeck

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]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

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]

Originally Posted by caymus

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]

Originally Posted by Caymus

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]

Originally Posted by brewbob

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