According to Russian sources, between 1956 and 1977, a total of 4,112 balloons were identified above the territory of the Soviet Union, of which 793 were shot down by fighter aircraft. While some of these balloons belonged to civil research organizations, the majority were used for military purposes.The peak of spy balloon activity occurred in January and February 1956, when almost 3,000 balloons were launched; after this, they were much more seldom observed, with the exception of short periods of increased intensity. Many years later, in December 1980 and January 1981, the Soviets recorded the presence of several hundred smaller balloons.
These dates are worth noting. In the first case, it was the period just before the crucial 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), during which Nikita Khrushchev exposed Joseph Stalin’s ‘cult of personality.’ In the second case, these were the days of the planned Warsaw Pact intervention in Poland, in response to the Solidarity movement there.
mr inflatable flappy arm guy was not available for comment
And we’ll never glimpse any wreckage they recover cuz...weather balloon.
if they are non issues..
then why have a “classified” briefing?
They just can’t seem to keep their stories straight here.
One day it’s one made up story, the next is the next made up story, and so it goes.
Notice how Hunter Biden’s laptop is out of the news now?
In 1974 the Glomar Explorer retrieved a soviet submarine from 3 mile deep water. I’m sure we can recover this stuff.
Some dumbass in the DoD actually said the reason we’re shooting more of them down now is because we’re now looking for them. As if that’s supposed to make us feel better!
Barney Fife is in charge!
Incompetent boobs are going to get us all killed
Gotta keep the peasants calm. Calm frogs boil.
If it flies it dies.
BIDEN 2024
Lol
and here the Aliens came in peace- offering balloons as peace offerings and gifts of delight, and what does biden do? Shoot em down!
It was detected over Montana and floated for days before being shot down off the Carolina coast.
Negative - NORAD/NORTHCOM detected it over the Aleutian Islands, reported it up the chain and asked for instructions, which were delayed until it was over Montana.
Inexcusable inaction by the White House.
commercial or benign purposes Such a narrow band of what they think they could have been used for.
Biden administration was caught unaware.
Yeah well it’s normal for them it’s why they screw so many things up.
Equal stupidity gives the same results.
Biden is always quick to point the finger of blame elsewhere when things go wrong. Why isn't he furious about this? The military tracked the balloon from the time it left China, across the Pacific, up to Alaska, then through western Canada into the United States. If we are to believe the White House (a big "if"), we've been told that Biden wasn't informed about the balloon until it was over Montana. If true, why hasn't Biden demanded to know why his military leaders kept this information from him? Instead, he feels the entire episode is no big deal.
We can joke and laugh about it, but this is a very serious matter.
The ‘Biden unit’ had reached the end of its life, so a new one was dispatched as a replacement.
Then the [supposed] chinese balloon showed up and got the public all up in arms, so much so that the military shot down the resupply ship with the new ‘Biden unit’.
It’s no laughing matter: They have to invent distractions to prevent t unwanted attention on his lack of appearance. Hell, they might even start a war just to prevent discovery of the destroyed Biden unit in the wreckage.