The only weather balloons I've ever seen were the ones that carried a dangling radiosonde and a radar reflector on a long string. Not large IIRC. Think they were launched by one or two people. This thing was reportedly 200ft across. The images of the wreckage being hauled aboard a ship support that. Who the hell needs a 200ft diameter weather balloon?
I can understand China playing the Putin game and just repeating lies endlessly.
Does anyone really believe that a 200ft balloon with a payload the size of a regional jet could have been anything other than surveillance kit?
Do any of the experts here support the view that a 200ft balloon carrying a few hundred kg of kit could be anything other than surveillance kit?
Surely if it was that big and legit it would carry a transponder. The absence of one, or ADS-B, is damning evidence that its purpose was nefarious.
Does make me wonder if this stuff has been going on for a while. If the balloon hadn't been spotted in very clear skies over Montana would we ever have known about it?
Interesting that the second device shot down today was said to not be a balloon.