A Chinese Spy Balloon?

Shoot it down?

  • Yes, Fighter

    Votes: 7 77.8%

  • Yes, ADA

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • No

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Total voters
    9

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AIM-9X has an array able to detect a target by just its reflection into the UV wavelength.

As for the reason why didn't they shoot it down over the Pacific?

It went via the northern Jetstream, upon through Manchuria, into Alaska, down through the Great White North to the Great Plains missile fields.
And that's the 'why' - What was it up to over the missile fields. Ground Penetrating Radar? ELINT? SIGINT? Patterns of life?
It was however shadowed throughout its journey over CONUS by Dragons and there is chatter that it wasn't a passive ballon, but was calling home via a satellite uplink.

As to 'why not shoot it down over CONUS'? Its probably fitted with an explosive anti tamper charge in case it goes rouge and lands. How big? Just a grenade sized anti tamper device, or a very major explosive charge able to destroy the entire package?

As to its trip over CONUS, everyone will have gone EMCON and been concealing activities, so its an intel bust for the Chinese, but an intel goldmine for the US now they have it in their hands.
 
The thing that amuses me amongst all the BS rants over this by some is that they fail to consider the possibility that the US Military knew very well what it was doing and could have been using this as a opportunity to feed misinformation back to China. After all it isn't like the path wasn't predictable with plenty of time to react. It's not like it was a hypersonic recon bird after all.

Mind you, given the way it has fuelled the moron crowd, I could imagine the Chinese laughing and giving themselves the "Mission Accomplished" pats on the back with all of this even if nothing was even fitted to the balloon.
 

The AIM-9X is an imaging seeker, not really heat seeking. I mean, sure, it works in the IR (and maybe other spectrum also) but it works by detecting the contrast of the edges / shape of the target. And IR is a world of contrast. Your eyes work the same way, when looking at those pictures of that balloon you see the round, balloon, shape of the envelope, and cannot really make out any texture on the surface. So you shape it, and your mind tracks it, by detecting the edges or other easily identifiable features.

The following image (3 - 5 micron range) demonstrates how small temperature changes are easily detected in the IR, and so the edges of things are easy to detect / track. This picture is part of the carpeted floor in the hallway of my old house. About 60 seconds prior to this image my daughter walked down the hallway at a regular walking pace. The temperature difference is how much her foot warmed the carpet up in the sub second contact period of each footstep.


Using a contrast tracker any one of those footprints could be detected and used as a "tracking" point, within the boundaries of this image, naturally, not claiming the -9X can kill a footprint

T!
 
They also would have been required to file a NOTAM, even for flight over open ocean areas.. I wonder about the correlation of the balloon launch and the NOTAM system going down.

Some years ago a launch operation for a USN satellite was underway at Cape Canaveral. Then Range Safety got word that the impact area for the 1st stage booster was not clear. Turned out that a USN carrier battlegroup was sailing through it. Don't know if they forgot to check the NOTAMS or that they figured they were big enough and bad enough that they did not need to.
 
Thumpalumpacus said:
China probing American will in a very clumsy manner. They may not have gotten the memo.
Click to expand...
Could be Russia. Flying something from their easternmost shores. They've done it before this decade, though never over the line.

Russian surveillance aircraft enters Alaska’s defense zone: NORAD

The North American Aerospace Defense Command said that Russian surveillance aircraft were spotted inside the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone twice this week, but they remained in internatio…
nypost.com
 
I was at the Dollar Tree store a few weeks back and some poor lady bought some HE balloons after which two of them got way from her in the parking lot. It probably was one of those.

Back in 1984 we were trying to launch a TIROS satellite on an Atlas from VAFB in CA. It was in November; WX was terrible and the available time periods for NOAA were three days on and three off, which synchronized perfectly with the cold fronts coming down the coast. We launched three balloons for each launch to get winds aloft info and it took us 14 launch attempts. We wondered if some farmer far to the East was having the balloons land on him and wondering whathell was going on.
 

No problem either way, in fact better if the second is Russian -- now both are on notice that what's set aloft over our skies may be brought down.
 
I'm hoping we'll now see Canada invest in its NORAD commitments. With presumably Chinese or Russian UFOs flying over Alaska, the US won't tolerate Canada shirking its air defence responsibilities. Canada needs to give a serious think to Pacific and Arctic defence. It's only a matter of time before a PLAN nuclear attack submarine transits across the north of Canada, if not already. Unlike Canada, China has the capability.
 
Significant upgrades were announced last summer.

Fact sheet: Funding for Continental Defence and NORAD Modernization - Canada.ca

NORAD modernization is a long term project and these funds will support NORAD and the Canadian Armed Forces’ ability to protect Canadians against new and emerging military threats to Canada and North America more broadly.
www.canada.ca
 
Crimea_River said:
Significant upgrades were announced last summer.
Click to expand...
Good. Now if we can get a quartet of SSNs to watch the icepack.

Canada’s Future Submarines – Canadian Naval Review

Canadian submarine interests are extremely relevant, and can be divided into three categories: the defence of Canada and North America; supporting Canadian expeditionary deployments; and supporting Canada’s interest in global maritime stability.
www.navalreview.ca
 
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