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2023 Chinese balloon incident By Curt_Anderson December 7, 2024 1:41 pm Category: International (0.0 from 0 votes) Rules of the Post Write A New Article How To Post Here

From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a high-altitude balloon originating from China flew across North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States. On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina. Debris from the wreckage was recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.

By February 13, the U.S. had recovered a significant portion of the balloon's payload, including sensors, electronics, and structural sections. The entire payload measured 30 feet (9.1 m), weighed more than 2,000 pounds (910 kg) by estimates, and contained all of the craft's equipment and antennas. Underwater recovery efforts were suspended on February 14 due to bad weather. On February 17, the U.S. military said that recovery operations have concluded for the balloon after the final debris was located and retrieved. --Wikipedia

The United States isn't like the secretive nation of North Korea. I doubt that there are important national secrets which could be revealed by a leisurely flight across North America. I doubt a balloon, satellite, airplane, helicopter or passing car could discern much information that wasn't already public knowledge. I suspect that we learned more from our forensic analysis of the Chinese balloon and its electronic payload than they did about us.

---

Cited and related links:

1. en.wikipedia.org

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Comments on "2023 Chinese balloon incident":

by oldedude on December 7, 2024 2:16 pm They went over most of the bases in the northern Tier. That should tell you a lot. These are our major nuclear bases that hold much of our ICBM fleet we actually have in our arsenal. It also included OFFUT AFB, a major headquarters base. In addition, they flew over Pope AFB, and Ft Bragg, NC, Ft Benning, GA, and Ft Campbell, KY. All of these bases are our land warfare centers in different ways. Pope AFB provides all the logistical support for 3rd Group, Special Forces, and the entire 82nd ABN Division. These are big deals. Fort Bragg is the largest US Army base by population, serving a population of 52,280 active-duty Soldiers, 12,624 Reserve Components and Temporary Duty students, 8,757 civilian employees, 3,516 Contractors, and 62,962 active-duty family members. There are 98,507 Army retirees and family members in the area. They are integral to our global response capability of the US military. FT Bragg is the gold mine of land warfare operations. All in all, pedojoe gave them a goldmine. AND the governors of Alaska and Montana invited the federal government to shoot the "balloons" down in their states. And both of them have Air National Gurad fighters to do the mission. pedojoe refused, and allowed them to spy on our major nuclear, headquarters, and land warfare bases. by oldedude on December 7, 2024 2:24 pm And- There's a big question about how often the Chinese have been undetected by our defense system also. How many Chinese spy balloons did we miss and when did they start flying above the U.S.? The scale of China’s balloon surveillance could be more extensive than a handful of flights over the U.S., as intelligence agencies sift through hundreds of sightings of unidentified balloons and aerial objects in recent years, a lawmaker, a U.S. official and experts told NBC News. The Biden administration is still trying to determine the full extent of China’s spy balloon intrusions into U.S. airspace, and it’s possible that the number of confirmed Chinese surveillance flights over the U.S. rises. The revelation this month that the Chinese were able to fly surveillance balloons into American airspace without the U.S. military detecting it over a period of years has raised questions about an intelligence failure and prompted calls for investments in the country’s air defense and radar systems. nbcnews.com by Curt_Anderson on December 7, 2024 3:06 pm OD, Have you ever looked at the flight paths of a commercial airline? The example below is United's. There is hardly a spot they don't fly over. Add to that all the commercial and private planes that fly above America. Plus there are the drone hobbyists and satellites. What secrets do you think the Chinese balloon gathered at an altitude of 60,000 feet? There are not that many areas in which people are not allowed to fly. Here they are. Permanent prohibited areas Thurmont, Maryland, site of Presidential retreat Camp David (Prohibited Area 40 or P-40) Amarillo, Texas, Pantex nuclear assembly plant (P-47) Bush Ranch near Crawford, Texas (P-49) Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia (P-50) Naval Base Kitsap, Washington (P-51) Washington, D.C., U.S. Capitol, White House, and Naval Observatory (P-56); Bush compound near Kennebunkport, Maine (P-67) Mount Vernon, Virginia, home of George Washington (P-73) Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota (P-204, 205, and 206) Temporary restrictions over Disney theme parks were made permanent with language added to a 2003 federal spending bill.[22] Additionally, an indirect TFR prohibits flight below 3,000 feet (910 m) above ground level and within a 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) radius of stadiums with seating capacity of 30,000 or more, in which an World Series, MLS Cup Final, Super Bowl, College Football Playoff National Championship, NASCAR grand slam races, WrestleMania, or the Olympic games en.wikipedia.org by HatetheSwamp on December 7, 2024 3:40 pm Curt, I'm guessin you Good German in your sleep. BTW, we were wintering in Myrtle Beach about a half dozen miles up the coast when the balloon was shot down. It was LOUD. by Curt_Anderson on December 7, 2024 4:18 pm HtS, I notice you resort to your “good German” line whenever you don’t have a logical or otherwise intelligent response. This seems to be just another thing that conservatives worry about unnecessarily. What intelligence do you think the balloon gathered on its languid, slanting flight across the northern US? What was revealed that couldn’t be seen better by a hobby drone, a helicopter, private plane, kite or even from a parked car? The balloon and its payload were around one ton and was flying at about 60,000 feet. Given that it wasn’t precisely predictable where it might fall, where would you recommend it be safely shot down? Also what about the missile or whatever would be used to strike it, where would that land? Or would you opt for a water landing in hopes of retrieving its electronic parts and information? by Indy! on December 7, 2024 4:36 pm Understand why this is an "issue"... The revelation this month that the Chinese were able to fly surveillance balloons into American airspace without the U.S. military detecting it over a period of years has raised questions about an intelligence failure and prompted calls for investments in the country’s air defense and radar systems. View Video by oldedude on December 7, 2024 6:24 pm I agree, and with that technology, they can be over the US without us being able to do anything about it. The other scary part is their communications aren't being picked up by our communications technology. by Indy! on December 7, 2024 6:49 pm No worries. I'm sure they'll be able to run the USA much more efficiently than we have - especially now that tRump will be in charge. by Donna on December 8, 2024 7:42 am Apparently our military hasn't been able to shoot down any of the small car-sized drones that have been hovering over military bases in the UK and military installations in New Jersey. They've been being seen for almost 3 weeks, yet the DoD still doesn't know who's controlling them, or they aren't saying. by oldedude on December 8, 2024 8:48 am Donna- one of the big issues is that pedojoe sent fast movers (high tech fast jets) to kill these things. It's really hard to slow those down enough to get a good bead on them. And they may not show up on their targeting system. The old Navy A-6 might be a good choice for them. It's an air-to-ground platform and specializes in killing SAM sites. Their electronics are awesome. They are slower and might be able to feed on the communication channels of the drone. Don't know,, but I think it would be worth a shot. That or your wife's fully favourite! The A-10. You're going to need something that slow. Oh. and this administration has said it won't shoot anything down over land. That is an issue (thusly going into the atlantic). Their free to operate anywhere over land. by Indy! on December 8, 2024 12:11 pm A trillion dollars a year for "defense" and we can't even decide how to shoot down an (allegedly) invading aircraft. What an utter waste of perfectly good money. Go To Top

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