China threatens retaliation after US shot down spy balloon

[khansaheeb]

Lol its a violation of our airspace dude and no weather balloon has 20 feet solar penals on it


Than it your mistake to not shoot it down its a Chinese airspace violations btw dude

What a load of balloony.

 

[epebble]

Its not a weather balloon dude it's clearly spy/surveillance balloon

That is why my response was a conditional.

 

[firohot4321]

China threatens retaliation after US shot down spy balloon
Feb. 5 2022

The balloon drifts above the Kingstown, NC area, with an airplane seen below it. (Source: Associated Press)

The US military on Saturday (local time) shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America, drawing a threat of repercussions from China.

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, US officials said.

Military officials determined that bringing it down over land from an altitude of 18,288 metres would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.

China responded that it reserved the right to "take further actions" and "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."

The presence of the balloon in the skies above the US this week dealt a severe blow to already strained US-Chinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.

"They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators who did it," Biden said after getting off Air Force One en route to Camp David.

The giant white orb was spotted Saturday morning over the Carolinas as it approached the Atlantic coast. About 2.39pm EST, an F-22 fighter jet fired a missile at the balloon, puncturing it while it was about 11 kilometres off the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, senior defence officials said.

The spectacle had Americans looking to the skies all week, wondering whether the mysterious balloon had floated over them.

On Saturday, Ashlyn Preaux, 33, went out to get her mail in Forestbrook, South Carolina, and noticed her neighbours looking up — and there it was, the balloon in the cloudless blue sky. Then she saw fighter jets circling and the balloon get hit.

"I did not anticipate waking up to be in a 'Top Gun' movie today," she said.

The debris landed in 14 metres of water, shallower than officials had expected, and it spread out over roughly 11 kilometres and the recovery operation included several ships.

The officials estimated the recovery efforts would be completed in a short time, not weeks. A salvage vessel was en route.

China has claimed that the balloon was merely a weather research "airship" that had been blown off course. The Pentagon rejected that out of hand — as well as China's contention that it was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability.

The Chinese government on Saturday sought to play down the cancellation of Blinken's trip. "In actuality, the US and China have never announced any visit, the US making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Pentagon also acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. "We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon," Brigadier General Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.

Officials said the balloons are part of a fleet that China uses for surveillance, and they can be maneuvered remotely through small motors and propellers. One official said they carry equipment in the pod under the balloon that is not usually associated with standard meteorological activities or civilian research.

China threatens retaliation after US shot down spy balloon

China criticised the US for "an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice."

www.1news.co.nz

Why send f22 when an f16 could have done the same job ??

Especially since they suspected it to be a spy device

Which could have sent sensitive data about f22??

Or they know it's just a weather balloon and blowing it out of proportion

 

[White and Green with M/S]

What a load of balloony.

Look at the pictures of that balloon do you still think its was a weather balloon stupid theory sir

That is why my response was a conditional.

In both cases USA will not give the remainder of suspected balloon

 

[jhungary]

Its not a weather balloon dude it's clearly spy/surveillance balloon

lol, that thing have 20 + solar panel on it, I would say it generate electricity between 6000-8000W (my home have a 2000W system, and it only have 8x250W Panel on them, and it is enough to power half my house) on it, it's enough to power a small supercomputer (10 blade server is only around 5kW with 20 Intel Xeon CPU) Unless that balloon is hosting some kind of online gaming tournament while they process weather data, you have to be stupid to believe that was a weather balloon.

 

[White and Green with M/S]

Why send f22 when an f16 could have done the same job ??

Especially since they suspected it to be a spy device

Which could have sent sensitive data about f22??

Or they know it's just a weather balloon and blowing it out of proportion

F 16 has a service ceiling of only 55 kilo feet and this device was floating around 60-65 kilo feet f22 has a service ceiling of 60-65 kilo feet

And this spy balloon is build to spy ground installations not moving targets in the air

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

Why?

the whole thing is just media overreaction to a weather balloon

 

[epebble]

lol, that thing have 20 + solar panel on it, I would say it generate electricity between 6000-8000W (my home have a 2000W system, and it only have 8x250W Panel on them, and it is enough to power half my house) on it, it's enough to power a small supercomputer (10 blade server is only around 5kW with 20 Intel Xeon CPU) Unless that balloon is hosting some kind of online gaming tournament while they process weather data, you have to be stupid to believe that was a weather balloon.

That makes me think, 6,000W of power = may be 60 to 100 test equipment? = $10 million for Hardware => $100 million project cost. Was it really expected to get $100 million worth of intelligence? Or was it just political gimmickry ?

 

[White and Green with M/S]

the whole thing is just media overreaction to a weather balloon

Don't humiliate yourself further Mr do you see which weather balloon have 20 feet solar panels on it and it clearly violation of our airspace

That makes me think, 6,000W of power = may be 60 to 100 test equipment? = $10 million for Hardware => $100 million project cost. Was it really expected to get $100 million worth of intelligence? Or was it just political gimmickry ?

Look my friend China don't have sophisticated spy/surveillance aircraft like u2/Sr 71 or economic 135 so they are relying more on unpowerd long range balloons to spy their enemies

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

Don't humiliate yourself further Mr do you see which weather balloon have 20 feet solar panels on it and it clearly violation of our airspace

nah if the military thinks it's spy balloon they would have shot it down over Alaska, Canada would have said something by now.

Don't read to much into US media

 

[jhungary]

That makes me think, 6,000W of power = may be 60 to 100 test equipment? = $10 million for Hardware => $100 million project cost. Was it really expected to get $100 million worth of intelligence? Or was it just political gimmickry ?

Well, I don't know, and I don't like to guess. I mean, they can have 20+ solar panel and it didn't have anything to power, I mean for all I know, it could have been a trojan horse and those 20+ panel were aesthetic, and they are doing this for LOL (I mean if this is the case, then the balloon plus 20 panel is probably less than $5000). While that is not likely, it's a possibility.

The thing I can comment on is what I saw and what I know that were confirmed. Remember when I say it will take a 40 ft trailer to fix all the RC-135 equipment on? That thing is about 90 ft long, it literally could have anything in it, and the estimate power generation from what I see is enough to power a server blade, that's a lot of computational power, not even on our RC-135 have that.

I mean, at the end of the day, unless the DoD reveal the wreckage, we really don't know what this balloon is for, but I very much doubt you need that much power that we know of (it can also have a RAT or other kinetic energy generation onboard) and that could power a lot of thing. But then all these is up to our imaginations

 

[White and Green with M/S]

nah if the military thinks it's spy balloon they would have shot it down over Alaska, Canada would have said something by now.

Don't read to much into US media

And weather balloon stupid theory not fitting the bill dude China intentionally overflew that spy device into our airspace

 

[nahtanbob]

nah if the military thinks it's spy balloon they would have shot it down over Alaska, Canada would have said something by now.

Don't read to much into US media

what are we supposed to follow ? the chinese media

 

[khansaheeb]

Look at the pictures of that balloon do you still think its was a weather balloon stupid theory sir


In both cases USA will not give the remainder of suspected balloon

I don't think China needs to use a spy balloon, it's just over inflated sensational stuff for the media. Cold war point scoring.

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

And weather balloon stupid theory not fitting the bill dude China intentionally overflew that spy device into our airspace

well can you explain why the Canadians kept quiet after a Chinese spy balloon went all the way through its entire west coast?

what are we supposed to follow ? the chinese media

don't blindly follow any media