Why Haven't We Shot Down Spy Balloon?

[CivilDiscourse]

Traitor Joe sells us out again!

Honestly? It's likely too expensive. The balloon is known, it is tracked. Anything sensitive is going to be well out of sight/turned off before the balloon nears it, in addition, if Chinese spy sattelites are even a fraction as good as ours, then the balloon's intel is likely redundant.

This means that the Chinese are getting very little intel, and destroying it would likely waste expensive equipment.

[seer]

Honestly? It's likely too expensive. The balloon is known, it is tracked. Anything sensitive is going to be well out of sight/turned off before the balloon nears it, in addition, if Chinese spy sattelites are even a fraction as good as ours, then the balloon's intel is likely redundant.

This means that the Chinese are getting very little intel, and destroying it would likely waste expensive equipment.

If we did this in Chinese air space what do you think would happen?

[seanD]

Wow, you guys are just obsessed with trashing Joe Biden. It's like you can't go 2 minutes without finding some reason to trash him, and everything is about Joe these days.

In the real world, what is actually going on is that our Military leaders are advising against shooting it down at the current time due to the potential danger to civilians below and their capability to make sure nothing sensitive is breached by it. Do you really want Joe Biden to ignore the advice of his military generals on a matter such as this?

Clearly that is not off the table, but at the current time apparently it is less dangerous to let it continue on its way.

So you're saying they're incapable of making mathematical calculations so that they can make a predictable course trajectory relative to the ground, wait for it to reach an uninhabited area and then shoot it down? I actually agree with you.

[mossrose]

Some people never forget...

[seer]

Chinese spy balloon

328744165_916697189503898_5073138096961514695_n.jpg

[seer]

There is a video of something exploding over Montana and crashing to the ground...Can't find the video...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-airspace.html

[Cow Poke]

I have to wonder if there's actually a plan to recover the balloon's payload intact at a proper time and place. It might be informative as to what state of technology the Chinese are utilizing.

[mossrose]

Chinese spy balloon

328744165_916697189503898_5073138096961514695_n.jpg

Ack! My eyes!

[rogue06]

Honestly? It's likely too expensive. The balloon is known, it is tracked. Anything sensitive is going to be well out of sight/turned off before the balloon nears it, in addition, if Chinese spy sattelites are even a fraction as good as ours, then the balloon's intel is likely redundant.

This means that the Chinese are getting very little intel, and destroying it would likely waste expensive equipment.

Taking it down wouldn't be a problem and no need to waste anything expensive. Officially, the issue of it crashing on someone/something.

[CivilDiscourse]

Taking it down wouldn't be a problem and no need to waste anything expensive. Officially, the issue of it crashing on someone/something.

It might. Reports are it's altitude is around 60k feet. According to wiki, the F35 has a ceiling of 50k feet. That puts it at 10k feet too low to effectively strike the balloon with regular ballistic guns. That leaves the guided munitions, and those are expensive. Now, having said that. This is the US military we are talking about, it's not known for penny pinching. At the end of the day, the official issue probably IS the issue, just not quite for the reason they are saying. It's over US soil, given the publicity, the order HAS to come from Biden, therefore any negative political impact will fall on Biden. So, I suspect the reason they are gun shy may be political.

Though, to be frank. I'm not saying any of these are VALID reasons, just hypothesizing on the reasons. Never mistake explanation for rationalization. Someone might be late because they forgot to set their alarm, but that doesn't excuse it.

[seer]

Ack! My eyes!

[rogue06]

It might. Reports are it's altitude is around 60k feet. According to wiki, the F35 has a ceiling of 50k feet. That puts it at 10k feet too low to effectively strike the balloon with regular ballistic guns. That leaves the guided munitions, and those are expensive. Now, having said that. This is the US military we are talking about, it's not known for penny pinching. At the end of the day, the official issue probably IS the issue, just not quite for the reason they are saying. It's over US soil, given the publicity, the order HAS to come from Biden, therefore any negative political impact will fall on Biden. So, I suspect the reason they are gun shy may be political.

Though, to be frank. I'm not saying any of these are VALID reasons, just hypothesizing on the reasons. Never mistake explanation for rationalization. Someone might be late because they forgot to set their alarm, but that doesn't excuse it.

It would have been hard pressed to hit anything at all while it was drifting over Montana. The official reason seems dubious.

[CivilDiscourse]

It would have been hard pressed to hit anything at all while it was drifting over Montana. The official reason seems dubious.

If you are going to get the blame, why take the chance?

I think the bigger question is, how did it get into our airspace undetected?

[Ronson]

Remember when the US and Russia were both part of the Open Skies Treaty? China was never part of that (I don't think).

[rogue06]

If you are going to get the blame, why take the chance?

Again, Montana is incredibly open land. Very little chance of it even getting close to damaging something

I think the bigger question is, how did it get into our airspace undetected?

Did it?

The government only acknowledged it existed after the press started covering it. That doesn't mean they hadn't noticed it earlier.