US Army
US Air Force
US Space Force ( President Donald Trump)
US BALLOON FORCE ( Pseudo President Joe Biden)
Posted on 02/13/2023 4:46:11 AM PST by EBH
The US military is working on using high-altitude balloons to monitor China and Russia, according to a report by POLITICO.
The balloons, capable of flying at up to 90,000 feet (27.4 kilometers), would reportedly become a part of the country’s extensive surveillance network for tracking hypersonic weapons.
The development comes amid international concern that Russia and China are ahead of the US in hypersonic missile technology.
According to budget documents obtained by the outlet, the US Department of Defense has signaled its intention to move the technology beyond the scientific community to various military services.
“High or very high-altitude platforms have a lot of benefit for their endurance on station, maneuverability and also flexibility for multiple payloads,” senior fellow for the International Security Program Tom Karako said.
American technology firm Raven Aerostar said that its high-altitude balloon is powered by batteries charged by solar panels.
The craft has a flight control unit and a payload electronics package responsible for flight safety, navigation, and communications.
The military surveillance balloon takes advantage of wind speed and direction to move toward its target area, using machine-learning algorithms to predict wind direction and fuse incoming sensor data.
The balloon is reportedly designed for missions performed by traditional aircraft and satellites.
The US Department of Defense continues to invest in developing hypersonic weapons and interceptors.
However, its hypersonic weapons program has faced setbacks.
Earlier this month, a newly-developed missile capable of traveling five times the speed of sound failed during a trial.
Meanwhile, China conducted a hypersonic test in August, with a nuclear-capable missile that narrowly missed its target.
Russia has also ramped up its hypersonic weapons development in response to the US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002.
I see the narrative shifting to blame Russia for these balloons
So what happened to all those zillion dollar spy satellites that could supposedly sit in one spot in geosynchronous orbit and focus on things as small as a license plate??? Balloons would seem to be highly inferior; they are largely at the mercy of the wind direction and can’t remain stationary for any length of time.
I think we need to bring back the SR71.
Those satellites are there at approximately 23K miles above the Earth.
The human chimpanzees are just chomping at the next thing.
I truly thought there was no way lockdowns would be obeyed by people.
I now realize how stupid and sheeplike our population really is.
To quote our fearless leader “Gird your loins…”
The 1st Chinese ballon that went all the way across the country was “directional”, meaning it’s flight path was being controlled.
US Army
US Air Force
All the trillions spent on defense and we use f&*^ing balloons.
Maybe because they are
Unidentified balloons over US are the activation of the intelligence of China and Russia” - Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Defense Secretary
https://twitter.com/AZgeopolitics/status/1625123019029991426?cxt=HHwWhMC-mdGxzI0tAAAA
There we go
Russia Russia Russia….
Notice how the narrative started to shift in the past several days
Up Up and a wayski!
“I think we need to bring back the SR71.”
Why do you think they retired it? We’ve got better equipment.
Meanwhile, back at home to save on the cost of those expensive missles - a new defense system:
Balloons are green, but “they” are working on an electric SR-71.
““they” are working on an electric SR-71.”
How would that work?
No these “balloons” are directional. They are not at the mercy of the wind.
The 1st one should have caught the jet stream and traveled northerly and not across the Carolinas. It was interesting to see the evaluation of the flight path vs. the weather pattern.
Well I think we all have ‘balloons’ up in the air. and turn about is fair play in war.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.