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US Recovering Balloon Debris, Won't Return it to China
Channel News Asia ^ | 07 Feb 2023

Posted on 02/06/2023 1:21:47 PM PST by nickcarraway

The United States is recovering debris from the downed Chinese balloon in the Atlantic for analysis by intelligence experts and there is no plan to give the remains back to Beijing, officials said on Monday (Feb 6).

China says the balloon was an errant weather observation aircraft with no military purpose, but the United States says it was a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle.

"They have recovered some remnants off the surface of the sea and weather conditions did not permit much undersea surveillance of the debris field," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said two days after a US fighter jet shot down the balloon.

(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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To: nickcarraway

President Retard wanted to return it but China wouldn’t pay shipping and Joe is too cheap


21 posted on 02/06/2023 1:45:35 PM PST by NWFree (Somebody has to say it 🤪)
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To: NorthMountain

22 posted on 02/06/2023 1:50:28 PM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: Yo-Yo

Saved me the trouble to post that


23 posted on 02/06/2023 1:51:47 PM PST by doorgunner69 (Let's go Brandon)
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To: Yo-Yo

Clearly you interpret the data differently from me. I see the intact payload falling away from the balloon.


24 posted on 02/06/2023 1:57:30 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: ByteMercenary
The Inside Story on the F-22's Chinese Spy Balloon Kill

I consider Ward "Mooch" Carroll highly reliable.

YMMV

25 posted on 02/06/2023 2:00:16 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: NorthMountain
I suppose we will have to agree to disagree. Just keep in mind the size of an AIM-9's warhead. It's under 20 lbs, including the shrapnel.

Here is the official USAF Air Combat Command press release. It states an AIM-9X was used, but not a warhead-less training round.

https://www.acc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3288588/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/

26 posted on 02/06/2023 2:04:42 PM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: NorthMountain

The Payload does seem to be between the panels.


27 posted on 02/06/2023 2:05:10 PM PST by eyedigress (Trump is my President!)
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To: plain talk

Ha! Nice reference to the opening sequence to “Spies Like Us”


28 posted on 02/06/2023 2:05:11 PM PST by VinnieCCT
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To: nickcarraway

The USN should do the same as the ChiComs did with the USN EP-3 in 2001. Return it, after a THOROUGH, months-long examination, in pieces, and charge the ChiComs for freight, salaries of all people working on the detection of, downing of, recovery of, inspection of, and return of, the balloon. Of course, the cost of one unarmed Sidewinder, fuel and all other costs associated with the F22. Then add in an additional $50 million for ‘incidentals’ and ‘aggravation’. (Pedo Joe’s ‘taste’ not included.)


29 posted on 02/06/2023 2:05:13 PM PST by A Formerly Proud Canadian ( Ceterum autem censeo Justinius True-dope-us esse delendam)
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To: nickcarraway

Well, this section of debris either came from the spy balloon, or from something purchased at Walmart.


     

30 posted on 02/06/2023 2:06:03 PM PST by Songcraft
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To: plain talk

LMAO - good one!


31 posted on 02/06/2023 2:06:43 PM PST by Allegra
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To: nickcarraway

Funny thing; I don’t really believe China or my own U.S. government about what the balloon actually was.


32 posted on 02/06/2023 2:11:03 PM PST by Chengdu54
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To: Yo-Yo

After the explosion, the payload separated from the deflated balloon skin and descended at a higher rate than the balloon remains.


33 posted on 02/06/2023 2:12:17 PM PST by 353FMG (Secretly practicing my Putin swagger..)
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To: Yo-Yo

“There’s nothing of value to retrieve anyway, after being blown up by an AIM-9X Sidewinder, then plummeting 65,000 feet and slamming into the ocean surface.”

They recovered enough of the Challenger orbiter to pretty much reconstruct it.


34 posted on 02/06/2023 2:22:28 PM PST by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule. )
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To: ought-six

China already has anything of value from it. Probably downloaded from the Google cloud.


35 posted on 02/06/2023 2:24:25 PM PST by glennaro (Never give up ... never give in ... never surrender ... and enjoy every minute of doing so.)
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To: glennaro

I suspect so.


36 posted on 02/06/2023 2:29:41 PM PST by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule. )
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To: Yo-Yo

So...Biden allowed the Chinese to collect all the spy information it wanted...and then he destroyed the evidence.


37 posted on 02/06/2023 2:53:06 PM PST by Maelstrom (To prevent misinterpretation or abuse of the Constitution:The Bill of Rights limits government power)
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To: plain talk

🤣


38 posted on 02/06/2023 2:53:22 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: Yo-Yo
There’s nothing of value to retrieve anyway...

Probably not. The encryption gear and the command-control systems were likely wired with self-destruct packages that would obliterate them. It would not take much to do that.

Then again, a technician could have gotten sloppy during the prelaunch checkouts and forgotten to arm or install a self-destruct package. Or it could have failed to activate.

Could be worth a look if it is not too hard to pick up the pieces. Might be embarrassing to find that the system is a Chinese knockoff of an American design with a few improvements.

39 posted on 02/06/2023 3:07:56 PM PST by flamberge (An "honest politician" is one who stays bought.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Navy divers have discovered that it not a weather balloon, but is instead one of XI’s discarded condoms after effing the Biden Administration. Everyone knows there is no such thing as too much protection when engaging a Biden.


40 posted on 02/06/2023 3:15:22 PM PST by Waverunner
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