Pentagon Tracking Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Over the US

GEOINTAnalyst

Well-Known Member
t's one thing when a government with a legitimate intelligence interest spies, but a commercial firm doing it is different because who knows what's going on or is responsible for it and the consequences? Isn't this part of how the Chinese ended up stealing and exploiting a bunch of our intellectual property?
First you must define "legitimate" and in who's eyes do you base this legitimacy on - private contractors have been in the spy game for a very long time - they get paid by the government to do so - I know I have done that for the last 25 years. - It is called plausible deniability - if basing legitimacy on a government then the US spying on China is the same legitimacy as China spying on the US, whether a corporation getting paid by said government is irrelevant. I would be more concerned about TikTok spyware then these balloons

In the United States, there are no specific provisions for aircraft operations above 60,000 feet for civil aircraft, and most existing applications are limited to military operations. Existing Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems are unable to cost-effectively accommodate upper Class E airspace needs, and they are not necessarily feasible or desirable for upper Class E operations.
 
Last edited:

kathymendel

Well-Known Member
Well, shortly after I posted above, I saw on the news (as I was scrolling thru channels) that it had, indeed, been shot down.
There were pictures of a deflated balloon hanging in the sky over Montana, I believe.
Montana Governor denied the state government was involved.
Federal government is not claiming they did it.
Maybe some patriot with a missile took it down????
It will be interesting to eventually find out what actually happened.............
And, just whose balloon it was and what it was carrying........
 

lightofmylife

Blessed Hope-Prepare To Fly!
Well, shortly after I posted above, I saw on the news (as I was scrolling thru channels) that it had, indeed, been shot down.
There were pictures of a deflated balloon hanging in the sky over Montana, I believe.
Montana Governor denied the state government was involved.
Federal government is not claiming they did it.
Maybe some patriot with a missile took it down????
It will be interesting to eventually find out what actually happened.............
And, just whose balloon it was and what it was carrying........
I am thinking that whatever that balloon was that went down in Montana they get the debris from that to pinpoint exactly what it was. Also, there was a balloon spotted in Columbia, Mo area which is half way to St. Louis, Mo.
 

rks7777

Well-Known Member
The US has companies that do the same thing here are a couple - just saying - if the US does it do you not expect others to do the same thing? When you spy on someone expect to be spied upon yourself
Near Space Corp - https://nsc.aero/
The Outer Rim Company - https://www.to-rc.com/
Trying to word this correctly. You’re absolutely right, the US does this type of thing. And yes, we should expect other countries to do the same. But when the other countries spy on us we should not allow it. Frankly, when we do it, it’s o.k. When other countries do it to us it should not be o.k. And I’m certainly aware of the evil that currently runs the U.S.
 

6scalearmy

Member
This was not a spy balloon. This was purposely sent up and pointed out to the public. China gets plenty of spy info from us, and doesn’t need a balloon to do it. So what’s this balloon for? For a fact it has shown our current presidential admin once again, has no interest in the welfare of the American people. They purposely allowed this balloon to float over the entire U.S. before shooting it down. Was this balloon weaponized? Maybe, but I think it goes deeper than that. This could have been something as simple as a test signal. If so, it was a 100% success.
Now this is just my thoughts, but it’s clear the American people can care less about this. So it opens the door for more sky activity, and without question.
Second, this could be a signal from our govt to the Chinese govt, signaling the all clear. So China can do as they please, and our govt will not get in their way or try to stop them. Same goes for the other balloons. All in front of everyone.
 

Tall Timbers

Imperfect but forgiven

China Threatens Repercussions for Downed Spy Balloon, Reserves ‘the Right to Take Further Actions in Response’​

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions.

President Joe Biden issued the order but had wanted the balloon downed even earlier, on Wednesday. He was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water, U.S. officials said. Military officials determined that bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.

China responded that it reserved the right to “take further actions” and criticized the U.S. for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”

In its statement Sunday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2023...he-right-to-take-further-actions-in-response/
 

heisable2

Well-Known Member
Yes, or dropped.

Or see the article about micro robots in Tech.

As soon as I saw this, I figured they were spreading bio/agri something-or-other :mad
When the balloon was shot down could there have been powder within the balloon? If there was, possibly our delay to finish off the "thing" was a good move so none of that poison was dropped on us.


But then there's the wind. OMG....watch out below wherever you are. Get out your masks.

Perhaps far-fetched, but still a thought.
 

SkyRider

Well-Known Member
It's all part of an overt plan called Operation Dim Sum: send a dumpling shaped spheroid across the entire US mainland to test the resolve of some dim dumbling taking up residence in the White House.

I'm surprised that they didn't steer it to fly it right over the nation's capital.
 
Last edited:

jeanie

Well-Known Member

China Threatens Repercussions for Downed Spy Balloon, Reserves ‘the Right to Take Further Ac​


In its statement Sunday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2023...he-right-to-take-further-actions-in-response/
Word, words, scary word..veiled threat.
 

RobinMc

Well-Known Member
So it's allowed to fly diagonally across the whole US, THEN when it's off the coast, Biden says shoot it down and he's a hero for it. Wow. How much open land in Alaska that they could have shot it down and it land on nothing but ice. God help us. They shoot a nuke and I guess we'll all just watch it fly over till it explodes.
 

JSTyler

Well-Known Member
So it's allowed to fly diagonally across the whole US, THEN when it's off the coast, Biden says shoot it down and he's a hero for it. Wow. How much open land in Alaska that they could have shot it down and it land on nothing but ice. God help us. They shoot a nuke and I guess we'll all just watch it fly over till it explodes.
I'd be happy to give them my coordinates. Off in a flash upwards to get going with my real life :biggrin2
 

JSTyler

Well-Known Member
This was not a spy balloon. This was purposely sent up and pointed out to the public. China gets plenty of spy info from us, and doesn’t need a balloon to do it. So what’s this balloon for? For a fact it has shown our current presidential admin once again, has no interest in the welfare of the American people. They purposely allowed this balloon to float over the entire U.S. before shooting it down. Was this balloon weaponized? Maybe, but I think it goes deeper than that. This could have been something as simple as a test signal. If so, it was a 100% success.
Now this is just my thoughts, but it’s clear the American people can care less about this. So it opens the door for more sky activity, and without question.
Second, this could be a signal from our govt to the Chinese govt, signaling the all clear. So China can do as they please, and our govt will not get in their way or try to stop them. Same goes for the other balloons. All in front of everyone.
I like the way you think. I had the same inkling and tickling in the back of my brain.

The independence of the US has to be broken before the globalists and cone into their own. Our leadership is weak but complicit. I doubt that china has any qualms about being the big hammer and our leadership has no qualms about conspiring with them.

I wonder what they believe their seat at the table will include.
 

Dave_97

Well-Known Member
I think there is more to it than we realize.

It’s obvious the US military knew of this probably days long before it was in the media. It could have been allowed to fly over the airspace for 1 main reason.

Pretext.

This gives U.S a reason to start something with China, and most Americans already have the pictures and photos of the balloon flying over their nation etched into their minds because of the media. If the U.S military does something to retaliate, most Americans won’t complain because they now believe well “China started it”. The U.S could have easily shot down that balloon, or put a hole in it to retrieve any dangerous or important equipment from it, but they didn’t.
 

Wally

Choose Your Words Carefully...
I saw they waited to bring the balloon down in the Atlantic for safety sake. Also we may be able to recover a bit more of the device than if it smashed into earth.

Apparently the device was steerable as it had propellers. No doubt we have some good pics of it.

Intel or not, we likely were intercepting all transmissions from it, so letting it fly over is a great ELINT tactic. What it could see is not much more than a satellite can see.

Of course we have been flying Blackbirds for some time over peoples backyards. Space [high altitude] is for those who can get there.

Cudos to the Chinese for a cheap and creative way of surveillance.
They may also have a better idea of how we would deal with other kinds of intel gathering techniques.

Although we have ASATs, it creates a bit of space debris that is counter productive.

I wonder if that balloon will register as a "Kill". I expect the interceptor was an F-22 or late model F-15.

Oh, and another cause of the delay, they had to send a couple missiles back to Raytheon to have "balloon popping pins" glued to the tip of the missiles.
That probably added a couple million to someone's pocket.
 
Back
Top