China's "Weather Balloon"

init4fun · #1 02-04-2023, 11:20 AM

Ok ladies & gentlemen, opinion time, do ya think it's actually a weather balloon, or is it spy apparatus? Do ya think our military should shoot it down or let it be? Given that there is now also one reported over south america, does that bolster / disprove either way whether it's intentional or accidental that they are here?

Oerets · #2 02-04-2023, 11:26 AM

Looks from reporting these were not the first balloon's China has sent up. I say shoot it down and retrieve over the ocean.

My questions are, we had to of known when it was launched if not then why? If known why was it ever allowed to reach the USA?

finnbow · #3 02-04-2023, 11:52 AM

I suspect it is indeed a spy balloon, but we (nor anybody else) has the (known) ability to shoot down a stratospheric balloon. It's far higher than a fighter jet can fly and missiles won't explode upon hitting it and cannon-fire will pass straight through it. If we have an unknown capability of shooting it down, we may not want to reveal it to our adversaries.

GChief · #4 02-07-2023, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by finnbow

I suspect it is indeed a spy balloon, but we (nor anybody else) has the (known) ability to shoot down a stratospheric balloon. It's far higher than a fighter jet can fly and missiles won't explode upon hitting it and cannon-fire will pass straight through it. If we have an unknown capability of shooting it down, we may not want to reveal it to our adversaries.

Easy day for a fighter jet to shoot it down even at its highest altitude, and most missiles do not hit their targets. And just a fun fact even a DDG or CG could of shot it down near the coast at its highest altitude.

This opinion is from a guy that did collection intelligence and analysis, me. I like the way they did it. We probably gleamed a lot of info about its capabilities while easily "jamming" anything it was trying to transmit back. Soon we will have the hardware to analyze.