Chinese spy balloon over US
Why bother? Its presence is known and knocking it down gives an indication of high altitude defence capability.
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How did it get this far before being noticed? Doesn't the US have an ADIZ? I would have thought a 3xbus sized floating o ject would have triggered something before it was over the top of mainland US, and been dealt with before that point.
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BBC News reporting that it "flew over several sensitive military installations".
Presumably, being a balloon, then like any other balloon it just went where the wind took it?
Presumably, being a balloon, then like any other balloon it just went where the wind took it?
Top of my head but isn't most of it is thin plastic? And it would have a very low doppler.
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Tabs please !
Minuteman silos are easily spotted using Google earth - I doubt a balloon would add much info
Why bother? Its presence is known and knocking it down gives an indication of high altitude defence capability.
Presumably, the Chinese (assuming it was them) waited until favourable winds were forecast, and from nearly 20 km up it doesn't have to pass over the targets in order to get a good look at them.
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Perhaps it is a stray weather balloon- but the PRC would say that, wouldn’t they? If it is actually spying then it might be more beneficial for the US to intercept its transmissions and decode what it is reporting than it would be to bring it down - if indeed they have the technology to bring down something flying at perhaps 80,000 feet. If they do have the technology they might not want to demonstrate it.
The “sensitive area” claim is a media distractor. While there’s plenty of physical security sensitive areas associated with Malmstrom AFB, there’s nothing sensitive to aerial surveillance. If you want to photograph an ICBM silo, go rent a C172 and snap away. Much more economical than a high-altitude balloon. Anything “sensitive” associated with the Malmstrom ICBM facilities is underground. The locations of the ICBM silos is widely known; e.g., the U.S. is required to provide its ICBM silo geographic coordinates to Russia (and vice versa) under arms control treaties.
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Spying Over Montana?
Looking at a map I've always got the feeling that Montana is an old man spying on Idaho. Sticking his nose right into Idaho's business
You can't unsee that now
"If you want to photograph an ICBM silo, go rent a C172 and snap away" - Not so easy to do in the US any more. Not if you're not a citizen at least
Looking at a map I've always got the feeling that Montana is an old man spying on Idaho. Sticking his nose right into Idaho's business
You can't unsee that now
"If you want to photograph an ICBM silo, go rent a C172 and snap away" - Not so easy to do in the US any more. Not if you're not a citizen at least
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Lol, good luck getting any government/military organisation to move that quick.
Not much to reveal as the U.S. routinely tests its various high- and mid-level missile defense systems. The oddity would be employing such a capability from the interior of the U.S. Seems a Patriot would do the job.