Chinese Balloon Satellite Over Montana

[RblDiver]

There was a show in the 1980's where an alien invasion was stopped by balloons. It was called "V". The best part of this clip is the last minute. Maybe China is believing this craziness...

There was a (partial) remake of V about, oh, 10 years ago or so. I didn't realize that it WAS a remake. Had Morena Baccarin as the head alien.

[hollohas]

We've possibly been shooting down tiny, inexpensive hobby balloons that cost <$100.

$400k missile, meet $15 balloon.

https://aviationweek.com/defense-spa...shot-down-usaf

A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.

The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.

But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.

There are suspicions among other prominent members of the small, pico-ballooning enthusiasts’ community, which combines ham radio and high-altitude ballooning into a single, relatively affordable hobby.

Launching high-altitude, circumnavigational pico balloons has emerged only within the past decade. Meadows and his son Lee discovered it was possible to calculate the amount of helium gas necessary to make a common latex balloon neutrally buoyant at altitudes above 43,000 ft. The balloons carry an 11-gram tracker on a tether, along with HF and VHF/UHF antennas to update their positions to ham radio receivers around the world. At any given moment, several dozen such balloons are aloft, with some circling the globe several times before they malfunction or fail for other reasons. The launch teams seldom recover their balloons.

[Hummer]

So, a question for those who have real knowledge of mil aircraft capabilities. Instead of shooting stuff down, why not capture them? Pluck them out of the sky with a crane like arm and clamshell grabber on a high altitude aircraft. Maybe a 747 or jet propelled C130 like transport?

Wouldn't it have been better to capture the balloon or UFO craft without damaging it's contents?

[ray1970]

So, a question for those who have real knowledge of mil aircraft capabilities. Instead of shooting stuff down, why not capture them? Pluck them out of the sky with a crane like arm and clamshell grabber on a high altitude aircraft. Maybe a 747 or jet propelled C130 like transport?

Wouldn't it have been better to capture the balloon or UFO craft without damaging it's contents?

Well, where?s the fun in that?

[SideShow Bob]

So, a question for those who have real knowledge of mil aircraft capabilities. Instead of shooting stuff down, why not capture them? Pluck them out of the sky with a crane like arm and clamshell grabber on a high altitude aircraft. Maybe a 747 or jet propelled C130 like transport?

Wouldn't it have been better to capture the balloon or UFO craft without damaging it's contents?

Something similar to a modified Fulton SkyHook ?

[BushMasterBoy]

So, a question for those who have real knowledge of mil aircraft capabilities. Instead of shooting stuff down, why not capture them? Pluck them out of the sky with a crane like arm and clamshell grabber on a high altitude aircraft. Maybe a 747 or jet propelled C130 like transport?

Wouldn't it have been better to capture the balloon or UFO craft without damaging it's contents?

I could zap it with high power RF energy using a ECM pod. Probably would fry the electronics. the problem then is that forensics could not analyze the circuitry after recovery. I work "Penetration Aids" & ECM on the Air Force side. Link below shows the system:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_countermeasure

[battlemidget]

I like this version from the John Wayne classic.

[rondog]

Maybe the black knight reproduced and is spreading spores!

So, a question for those who have real knowledge of mil aircraft capabilities. Instead of shooting stuff down, why not capture them? Pluck them out of the sky with a crane like arm and clamshell grabber on a high altitude aircraft. Maybe a 747 or jet propelled C130 like transport?

Wouldn't it have been better to capture the balloon or UFO craft without damaging it's contents?

Um, that first one was at like, 60,000 feet. Damn few planes can fly that high. And it supposedly had a payload the size of three school buses.

[Aloha_Shooter]

We've possibly been shooting down tiny, inexpensive hobby balloons that cost <$100.

$400k missile, meet $15 balloon.

https://aviationweek.com/defense-spa...shot-down-usaf

The first one in the news was anything but a tiny, inexpensive hobby balloons. However, the administration got so much (deserved) crap for letting that balloon transit the whole damned continent that they seem to be trigger happy now in an effort to prove they have cojones. This action has ironically proved the point made before: they wouldn't take any action at all against a known Chinese surveillance threat and violation of our national airspace until pressed but are happy to shoot down anyone else.

[Doc45]