Where is the Balloon?

[bigredfish]

LOL. Trump would have called Putin on the phone and asked him what to do.

 

[trapper]

I have it on good authority that the pilot of the F-22 requested a fly by first and this is what the CCP saw on their video feed

 

[Jim I.]

Trump would have shot it down as soon as it was detected in Alaska airspace.

 

[Ssayer]

 

[Jim I.]

View attachment 153125

Somebody better lock Hunter back up in the basement!

 

[wittaj]

My reolink got a great capture of it going vertical to intercept the balloon

 

[wittaj]

China fumes after US pops its balloon, warns of possible ‘responses’ to ‘clear overreaction’

The Chinese government said it disapproves of the U.S. decision to shoot down an unmanned surveillance balloon and warned it may have "responses" to that action.

www.yahoo.com

 

[looktall]

Trump would have shot it down as soon as it was detected in Alaska airspace.

Would he though?
Really?

The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.

F-22 Safely Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon Off South Carolina Coast

A U.S. Air Force fighter safely shot down a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a written statement.

www.defense.gov

 

[Arjun]

The first thing that came to my mind when targeting the balloon was this scene from Independence Day

 

[TonyR]

Would he though?
Really?

I guess we'll never know for sure.

But I'm pretty sure we haven't heard or seen the last from PRC on this and I fully expect them to ramp up the deployment of their spy balloons weather observation balloons.

 

[garycrist]

Enough said................

 

[Smilingreen]

We can laser them. We have the technology onboard several planes and on ships. I am sure the seal teams are already cleaning up the bottom of the ocean as we speak. I wonder what brand name of equipment they will find? How much of it will be US made?

 

[Ssayer]

 

[wittaj]

 

[Ssayer]

 

[Ssayer]

View attachment ffdec273c551a1f9.mp4

 

[Gargoile]

after watching the shoot down video it looks like the missile hit the payload and not the balloon. what would be the point of shooting if down govt is not interested in recovering the payload. It was all for show. This is a great weekend to watch both the original and new version of Red Dawn.. Wolverines. just kidding about the movie have a great weekend.

It was and air to air missile. The balloon didn't have any metal mass to lock on to. It could only hit the payload. If I was the pilot, I would have used guns to pop the balloon and keep the payload intact.

 

[garycrist]

Aim 9s are heat seeking.

 

[looney2ns]

Watching some of the better camera captures, it sure appears only the balloon was hit, and the payload fell free in one piece.

 

[garycrist]

I dug some more info on the missile.

How Sidewinder Missiles Work

A Sidewinder missile weaves through the air toward an enemy target as if it has a mind of its own -- and in a way, it does. High-tech "smart weapons" take most of the guess work out of hitting a target. Find out how Sidewinders seek and destroy.

science.howstuffworks.com

No wonder it hit the tether.