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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The situations are not the same. Our drone vs a Chinese spy balloons. How much intelligence do you allow vs possible damage from a shot down. There is always a trade off. The cost of a shoot down is much less over Alaska and Montana than somewhere on the east coast.
 

Do you really think they were allowing the balloon to transmit. It has been reported that AF aircraft jammed the signals and shadowed it across the country.
 
It was also during the cold war when kids were doing air raid drills under their desks or lined up interior hallways.
We knew it was our drone but the public was a little more tolerant of mistakes the military made. It was part of the cost of preparedness. Although a few heads should have rolled over Palmdale.
Killing somebodies aunt Agatha in her off the grid ex hippy commune converted school bus in Montana would not go over well in the national press these days.

Decisions are going to be made on the worst case possible potential public relations disaster.
 
Waiting to see that Hellcat turn up in a GB.
 
Well, apart from snooping, high altitude balloons can carry things, possibly OOR from interception.
Certainly is a corner of the envelope that should be protected.

Eng
 
If the balloon was hoping for optical (photo) recon, the Chinese picked one of the worst times to survey the areas, as they were all snow covered due to the recent storms.

If seeking electronic Intel, not much was going to happen with several aircraft orbiting nearby like the RC-135 and U-2S.

As for shooting it down over land, having the array that's the size of three school buses tumbling eleven miles to earth in an unpredictable path puts people on the ground in jeopardy, but I suspect the military waited until it was over water so it could be recovered relatively intact.

in the end, I believe that the balloon wasn't so much as an intelligence asset as it was a psychological one to mess with the public's head.
 
IMHO, the military brass and or CIC was asleep at the wheel. Since this has been happening since the last administration, there should have been two or three options available for this event. There should also be a couple of crazy plans the capture the balloon.

I was only a captain armor officer but I was assigned to a computer battle simulations unit. One of the things that we did was war games all kinds of crazy events. We would then have to work out solutions.
DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
Do you really think they were allowing the balloon to transmit. It has been reported that AF aircraft jammed the signals and shadowed it across the country.
Click to expand...
Had not seen that info. Good to hear.
 
Agreed.
 
DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
Do you really think they were allowing the balloon to transmit. It has been reported that AF aircraft jammed the signals and shadowed it across the country.
Click to expand...
Not all links are simple to jam. There are whole new scenarios of communications and smaller (but effective) weapons and delivery.

Eng
 
GrauGeist said:
in the end, I believe that the balloon wasn't so much as an intelligence asset as it was a psychological one to mess with the public's head.
Click to expand...
100% agree and in that case it has been widely successful. It also wouldn't surprise me if it was found out to not have any sensors on board what-so-ever
 
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