Chinese Weather Balloons, and Should You Worry About Them?

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Dotini said:
Yeah, it is starting to look like the 3 weekend shootdowns could all have been "totally benign objects". However, no debris has been recovered from any of the objects.

Snippet:
"Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley Acknowledged the first Sidewinder missile that was fired on Sunday missed and insisted it “landed harmlessly” in the water. Each Sidewinder missile costs over $450,000."

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/02/14...-us-shot-down-could-have-been-totally-benign/
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Let's hope they recover that little gem for safety's sake if nothing else.
There are still safety areas marked on nav charts as "Military Training Area" on several parts of the great lakes due to "potential for un-exploded ordnance".
Those go back to WWII.
 
Matt_The_RocketMan said:
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I guarantee somebody(s) in Madison WI and Minnesota know exactly what happened or didn't happen. And what we are hearing and what reality is are probably not the same.

I remember in the 80s, especially during down times while on mobility for wargames, this is what scared us. The electronic age was new. Fax machines were two units called telefacsimile one received one sent. For electronic correspondence we had to use a typewriter with an OCR (optical character recognition) ball, email was not a thing yet. But when we started getting Personal Computers (PCs) in the office and realized we could transmit real time information around the planet in seconds, we all thought "civilians cant have this, its gonna cause panic, disinformation and people are going to make rash decisions. This is gonna get out of hand and someday will start a war".
 
Dotini said:
The shot down UFOs may be benign, but no legitimate company or organization has claimed them. No debris at all from any of them. Confusion prevails in government.

https://thehill.com/newsletters/defense-national-security/3858540-confusion-abounds-on-ufo-origins/
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I'm guessing you have never searched for a high power rocket that fell without chute from 40,000 feet into a desolate wilderness, a frozen ocean, or a lake larger than Croatia. Fortunately, I haven't either, but I've lost some that fell from a lot lower onto easily hiked land.
While, in general, confusion might reign in government, the inability to find shreds of something that fluttered down from eight miles high isn't evidence of anything other than the difficulty of the task.
 
I think it's funny that everyone was shouting that the first one should have been shot down over the middle of nowhere instead of after it got past the coast. Then when the next ones are show down over the middle of nowhere, seem surprised that it's really hard to find something small once it's lost in the middle of nowhere. This is especially funny coming from a group of people who, as noted above, have routinely lost rockets in the middle of an open field even when they watched them land.
 
Dotini said:
The shot down UFOs may be benign, but no legitimate company or organization has claimed them. No debris at all from any of them. Confusion prevails in government.

https://thehill.com/newsletters/defense-national-security/3858540-confusion-abounds-on-ufo-origins/
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The article says "crews are working hard to recover the debris." In what world does that mean that there's no debris at all? The article says that Congresscritters don't especially like the innocent/commercial object explanation since nobody has come forward.

If confusion prevails, it's because some people (ahem) are willfully misinterpreting the information before them.

This is my own personal theory and not backed by evidence. I could definitely believe someone not wanting to come forward if they thought that they might be charged $500K for the Sidewinder and the F-22's time in shooting it.
 
Steve Shannon said:
I'm guessing you have never searched for a high power rocket that fell without chute from 40,000 feet into a desolate wilderness, a frozen ocean, or a lake larger than Croatia. Fortunately, I haven't either, but I've lost some that fell from a lot lower onto easily hiked land.
While, in general, confusion might reign in government, the inability to find shreds of something that fluttered down from eight miles high isn't evidence of anything other than the difficulty of the task.
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Thata 4Sure. First time I went to AirFest in Argonia KS me and the 3 cheese amigos were told its impossible to lose a rocket there. All flat, no trees, no valleys..... We lost Todds rocket. And it was under chute. Between chute, 40 or more feet of shock cord, the two body tubes and nose cone all tethered together. Saw it in air. I dont remember what kit it was but minimum 3" x 6'. $1000+ gone. Got back to WI went immediately to Tims and got a Rocket Hunter! Something that should be easily found usually isnt.

However, in this balloon case, maybe these ones didnt have anything. Who knows.
 
Marc_G said:
Alternate answer for no debris:



(start about a minute into the video)
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Yes, this particular story is loads of fun. But at the end of the day, debris will be found and it's going to be balloons and/or drones. But going forward, there will be many more detections of anomalous phenomena, a hefty proportion of which will not be explained. And the basic problems and questions will go on and on. IMHO.
 
Peartree said:
I think it's funny that everyone was shouting that the first one should have been shot down over the middle of nowhere instead of after it got past the coast. Then when the next ones are show down over the middle of nowhere, seem surprised that it's really hard to find something small once it's lost in the middle of nowhere. This is especially funny coming from a group of people who, as noted above, have routinely lost rockets in the middle of an open field even when they watched them land.
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If they landed in a corn field it would really be difficult! 😇
 
Dotini said:
Yes, this particular story is loads of fun. But at the end of the day, debris will be found and it's going to be balloons and/or drones. But going forward, there will be many more detections of anomalous phenomena, a hefty proportion of which will not be explained. And the basic problems and questions will go on and on. IMHO.
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Instead of changing the subject...

Can we circle back to the previous post where you willfully misinterpreted articles and spread nonsense?
 
So, as with most "conspiracy theories" the details come into focus after some time. Going back through the post, it was funny how the original hand-wringing didn't bare fruit (as they say). A couple of questions come to mind... the DoD and "intel service" has been tracking since lift-off and failed to inform the CnC (maybe they did and he forgot). Why? What was Milley up to? Why didn't the WH know when it first entered into US territory? Why did Gen Van Herck mislead reporters with his statements? Or, did he? Maybe he didn't know...(that's scary). Seems the last three were not China Spy Balloons but probably actual research balloons and a party prank...(🤔). Maybe Tucker was right!
 
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KenECoyote said:
We need to establish a "Balloon Force". Just need a lawn chair, lots of balloons and a shotgun or rifle.
Look Up David Blaine GIF by YouTube
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can't wait to see the logo for this branch of the military
 

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