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Not buying it
Flopping Aces ^ | 02-07-23 | DrJohn

Posted on 02/08/2023 7:55:56 AM PST by Starman417

I am not buying it.

A 200 foot balloon with a 2000 pound payload was able to breach US airspace over Alaska and went unimpeded as it completed its mission spying over the US. Joe Biden allowed it to finish the mission before ordering the balloon shot down, specifically ordering the payload targeted. My guess is it was done to minimize disclosure of Chinese success.

That balloon could have carried mini-surveillance devices, small dirty bombs, EMP weapons or even hypersonic missiles. The next one also could.

Only until the furor grew to a fever pitch did the Biden administration "reveal" that similar balloons violated US airspace during the Trump administration. High level Trump officials denied it. A rumor spread that SecDef James Mattis knew about it but refused to tell Trump for fear of his overreaction. Mattis then denied that. The chief purveyor of the phony Alfa Bank/Trump connection, Jake the pasty snake Sullivan, once again spewed his typical tranche of lies

“[B]ecause the intelligence community made this a priority at the direction of President Biden, we enhanced our surveillance of our territorial airspace, we enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect,” Sullivan said at a Monday event with the US Global Leadership Coalition. “And were also able to go back and look at the historical patterns. And that led us to come to understand that during the Trump administration, as you said, there were multiple instances where the surveillance balloons traversed American airspace and American territory.”
Sullivan is a professional liar. he has absolutely no business being anywhere near government.

Magically, only after Trump left office was the Pentagon, using "forensics", able to discover three incursions during the Trump tenure, but making it public only after Biden failed to act on the current trespass. This is simply not believable. The current balloon was seen by lots of people and pilots. It's 200 feet in diameter. It is not feasible that during three prior events these stealth balloons were not witnessed by anyone. And that bring me to NORAD.

NORAD blew it.

“Every day as NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America,” Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck of the North American Aerospace Defense Command told reporters. “I will tell you that we did not detect those [previous] threats. And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out.”
Domain awareness gap. That's a good one. VanHerck should be relieved of command. Frankly, so should Biden.

(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: balloon; china
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1 posted on 02/08/2023 7:55:56 AM PST by Starman417
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To: Starman417

Why would Biden allow the mission to succeed?

Meanwhile, Xi showed off his new Hunter Biden Gallery...


2 posted on 02/08/2023 7:57:56 AM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Starman417

“specifically ordering the payload targeted.”

Is that true?


3 posted on 02/08/2023 7:58:15 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: Starman417

I would assume we have similar balloons floating above nations in the “grey area” below space, but above commercial aviation.

Talking about Chinese balloons means talking about everyone’s balloons - and intel-types don’t like to do that.


4 posted on 02/08/2023 7:59:41 AM PST by PGR88 (, )
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To: BenLurkin

It would appear so, from the footage of the F22 taking it out.

JMHO, YMMV.


5 posted on 02/08/2023 8:01:38 AM PST by OKSooner (War is a racket. COVID-19 is a racket.)
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To: BenLurkin

“specifically ordering the payload targeted.”

Is that true?

~~~

Wondering that myself.
Not that I disagree with the overall premise of the article. It really does look like they wanted to ignore the threats and allow it to continue, and only after it became a media stain did they take it seriously, but once they actually did something about it, it appeared they shot at the balloon itself, not the payload.


6 posted on 02/08/2023 8:03:42 AM PST by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: Rurudyne
Why would Biden allow the mission to succeed?

Why? Because the people Biden favors benefited from it. And the people Biden hates were damaged.

Our country was damaged.

7 posted on 02/08/2023 8:05:31 AM PST by GOPJ ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muw22wTePqQ Gumballs: Immigrants by the numbers.)
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To: BenLurkin

I don’t think you can get a lock on the balloon envelope.


8 posted on 02/08/2023 8:11:10 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Starman417

Don’t think for a minute if one of these supposedly “undetected” balloon incursions actually happened during Trump’s tenure that it would not have been leaked to the press and used to pillory Trump for his inaction. There is no credible evidence that any Chinese espionage balloon transited the US during Trumps administration period. Yet the number of supposed balloon incidents during Trump’s presidency that have been retroactively found keeps growing in the press. Where is the evidence and what is the source? There is no question about the recent Chinese balloon as NORAD knew about it and it was seen by hundreds of civilians.


9 posted on 02/08/2023 8:26:34 AM PST by The Great RJ
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To: The Great RJ

If this had happened while Trump was in office, the libs and their media would still be howling about it. Not a peep while he was President.


10 posted on 02/08/2023 8:29:11 AM PST by Texas resident (Who is running our country?)
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To: Texas resident
Correct. The Trump-hating fake media would have had a field day if something like this happened under Trump's watch.

I'm talking weeks of sensational headlines.

11 posted on 02/08/2023 8:34:34 AM PST by SamAdams76 (4,857,036 Truth | 87,716,542 Twitter)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

They were having trouble with a radar lock-on before firing They just maintained visual contact. I don’t know how much of a thermal fingerprint an AIM-9X needs to find a target. Seems like ambient temps would be pretty low at that altitude. The sun could have had the balloon and payload somewhat warmer. Seems that a TV guided missile could have been used to go right through the balloon.


12 posted on 02/08/2023 8:35:06 AM PST by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: SamAdams76

They’re already saying that it did.


13 posted on 02/08/2023 8:35:43 AM PST by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: Starman417

Not making any excuses for NORAD, but a B2 bomber weighs 160,000 pounds, without fuel or payload. It has the radar cross-section of a bird, pretty much undetectable by radar. A balloon is also not detectable by radar.

It seemed like we only heard about the balloon from visible sightings in Montana.


14 posted on 02/08/2023 8:43:22 AM PST by budj (Combat vet, second of three generations.)
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To: budj
A balloon is also not detectable by radar.

The payload is detectable.

15 posted on 02/08/2023 8:46:19 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: gundog
"...thermal fingerprint an AIM-9X needs to find a target..."

The AIM9 has full spectrum capability, doesn't need thermal signature if there is a good contrast in visibility. A white balloon in a blue sky is good.

16 posted on 02/08/2023 8:46:57 AM PST by budj (Combat vet, second of three generations.)
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To: budj

The satellite payload included big flat solar panels and the rest of the payload is the roughly the size and shape of a small bus. If this isn’t detectable then neither are small aircraft. They are!


17 posted on 02/08/2023 8:48:30 AM PST by Reily
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To: Starman417

My father, a former commander of the 552 Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing is rolling in his grave. What has become of our military is a disgrace.


18 posted on 02/08/2023 8:52:23 AM PST by Quilla
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To: Reily

I am wonder if the NORAD automated detection systems are designed to ignore low doppler targets?


19 posted on 02/08/2023 8:52:58 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Reily
I am wondering

Fixed it.

20 posted on 02/08/2023 8:55:07 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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