Originally Posted by
m0nkfish
I don't have an issue with shooting down a Chinese balloon, especially if there is suspicion that it is conducting surveillance, although I would suggest it is far better to down the balloon before it is able to trek all across the country taking pictures and hoovering up EW emissions.
But I do take issue at the shoot first policy which seems to be in place for UFO, because that is what they have so far admitted the second two objects are. As I said before, maybe they did know more than they are saying, and the use of force is justified. But the use of force should be a last resort, not the first, as seems to be the case here for, what seems to me, largely political reasons.
There is a hell of a lot we don't know. These things have been flying for around a decade now. Lots of reports of them in other parts of the world, mostly in the far east. If western intelligence services don't know what they are or what they are doing I'd be very surprised.
The media are being told they are unidentified. Whether that is strictly true is debatable. If I had to place a bet I'd say that US intelligence knows a lot about them and this informed the decisions to shoot them down.