What is being shot down?

[Art]

These are very high altitude balloons. If they are above reach of a jet and gunfire then a missile is needed.

True in some cases, but the F22 has a service ceiling of 65,000 feet, plenty high enough to handle a balloon at 60,000 feet.

However, my post above refers to a hobby club balloon that belonged to some enthusiasts whose organization is called, IIRC, "Bottlecap Balloons." They say one of their balloons disappeared over Alaska at about the time of the Alaska shootdown. There is growing speculation that the great lakes shootdown also involved some sort of vehicle being operated, again, by some recreational folks. Notice how the "gubmint" doesn't seem real interested in looking too hard for the remains of these other vehicles. The government isn't going to want to admit they are shooting down peoples toys to look good, after letting the real problem child drift all the way across the US soaking up intel all the way.

The only good thing about this is the Air Force got in some live fire practice though at very passive targets, one of which they seem to have missed with the first Sidewinder.

[Allen]

True in some cases, but the F22 has a service ceiling of 65,000 feet, plenty high enough to handle a balloon at 60,000 feet.

However, my post above refers to a hobby club balloon that belonged to some enthusiasts whose organization is called, IIRC, "Bottlecap Balloons." They say one of their balloons disappeared over Alaska at about the time of the Alaska shootdown. There is growing speculation that the great lakes shootdown also involved some sort of vehicle being operated, again, by some recreational folks. Notice how the "gubmint" doesn't seem real interested in looking too hard for the remains of these other vehicles. The government isn't going to want to admit they are shooting down peoples toys to look good, after letting the real problem child drift all the way across the US soaking up intel all the way.

The only good thing about this is the Air Force got in some live fire practice though at very passive targets, one of which they seem to have missed with the first Sidewinder.

The last balloon shot down took 2 missiles @ $380,000 ea plus the cost of using the plane and all the ground support so about $1M.

The first balloon, the Chinese spy balloon, was large and talk was it could soar 120,000 high.

#2 and #3 " objects shot down were announced (by the pilots) as cylinder shaped and octagonal shaped------no more mention of these. #4 balloon does sound like a toy that cost the tax payer about $1M to shoot down having no mass and no produced heat causing the first missile to miss.

I may be missing something as the news, just like our history, is re-written all the time.

The most important thing is though that all the attention is off of Hunter and biden's corruption along with the confidential files drama quickly fading away.

[Art]

The last balloon shot down took 2 missiles @ $380,000 ea plus the cost of using the plane and all the ground support so about $1M.

The first balloon, the Chinese spy balloon, was large and talk was it could soar 120,000 high.

#2 and #3 " objects shot down were announced (by the pilots) as cylinder shaped and octagonal shaped------no more mention of these. #4 balloon does sound like a toy that cost the tax payer about $1M to shoot down having no mass and no produced heat causing the first missile to miss.

I may be missing something as the news, just like our history, is re-written all the time.

The most important thing is though that all the attention is off of Hunter and biden's corruption along with the confidential files drama quickly fading away.

First, you are right about attention being off the Hunter Biden graft and corruption case, but the Biden strategy for everything is to ignore it which is true of the OP also.

The dope on the ChiCom Balloon was that it was at about 60,000 feet which makes sense as the only reason we know it existed today was an old boy seeing it from the ground and then it being reported in a newspaper. At 120,000 feet, 20 miles plus uo, I doubt it would have been seen from the ground. Except for that we probably wouldn't be talking about this at all.

These incursions seem to have been happening through at least three administrations with nothing being done about it because it seems, nobody in the DoD bothered to tell anybody in the Obama and Trump administrations, including the Secretary of Defense that it was going on . At least that's their story and they're sticking to it. More proof that you can't trust these people...full stop.

[Allen]

"could" soar at 120,000'. What I remember reading was, when spotted it was estimated at 70,000--75,000' but that's neither here nor there now. Per my posted article a different radar system is being used now that tracts small objects and apparently non-metal devices. May be true or may be an excuse for the defense dept for sleeping on the job (for decades).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-mysterious-flying-objects-173547135.html

[JimF]

These are very high altitude balloons. If they are above reach of a jet and gunfire then a missile is needed.

But, don’t these missle-bearing jets have a .50 cal. gun as well?

[Allen]

But, don’t these missle-bearing jets have a .50 cal. gun as well?

20mm for the F-22. Range is listed as 2,000 meters so about 6400 feet.

[RED]

Just FYI.

The service altitude of the 1960s F-4 Phantom was about 59,000 ft. The altitude record achieved was over 98,000 but crews were limited to 50,000 feet without pressure suits.

Balloons at high altitudes have a very low PSI and do not pop.

[dryheat]

A hundred thousand ft. It's pretty low when compared to what is considered outer space, but that's incredible when you consider a plane could fly that high. There's not much "to grab on to" up there.
Dumb balloons, just go where they will until they don't. I've seen weather balloons way up there with the naked eye. We can't waste too much time(or money) chasing every weather balloon.
Balloons don't scare me much.
I've never liked clowns(I didn't like clowns before I knew it was cool).

I've got to get my little dig in;

So Biden goes over to visit Ukraine; Promises another 500 million or so to protect them from invasion by their cousins the Russians with no concern at all about the invasion ongoing here. It's just Mexicans and they don't fire missiles at us. It's OK. I like tacos and burritos and enchiladas. I can spell all of that, I guess we are accustomed.

[Allen]

Despite all the cover up, proof of spying, and smoke screens the balloons have presented have you noticed how quickly the news of the 2nd and 3rd "objects" was hushed?

1. Chinese spy balloon.
2. Unknown cylinder shaped object
3. Unknown octagonal shaped object as reported by the pilot that shot it down.
4. $12 toy balloon.

After all the hype over the well known spy balloon the news quickly changed over to the last one, the $12 toy balloon to get everyone's attention off of the other ones that were never evaluated. Reading readers comments on printed articles, the plan seems to have worked with so many people criticizing and dismissing all of them now as toys w/o a clue of knowledge.

I think the news on #2 and #3 was an accidental leak that we weren't suppose to hear about. Have you also noticed there's been no updates nor any additional news of shooting one down or even a sighting?

For decades all we heard about was "weather balloon" from the government when a UFO was reported. From now on it will be "toy balloon" or drone.

My 2 cents.

[SDigger]

Maybe it was the 5th Dimension balloon the one that got away in 67!

[Allen]

Maybe it was the 5th Dimension balloon the one that got away in 67!

I wish and I wish it had been shot down in '67. I really got tired of hearing that and the theme to "2001 Space Odyssey".

[SDigger]

I wish and I wish it had been shot down in '67. I really got tired of hearing that and the theme to "2001 Space Odyssey".

[Major Tom]

Wasn't it a weather balloon that crashed in Roswell, NM? Unforchunately it crashed on some wierd animals that were thought to be extraterrestials. Boy, my spelling check is off today.

[Allen]

Government still covering things up.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...h-America.html

[Vern Humphrey]

But, don?t these missle-bearing jets have a .50 cal. gun as well?

Some have 20mm -- but these balloons have very low pressure at those altitudes, so simply poking holes in them doesn't work very well.