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Chinese spy balloon was 200 feet tall with payload over 2,000 lbs.: NORAD
NY Post ^ | Caitlin Doornbos and Emily Crane

Posted on 02/06/2023 12:57:48 PM PST by BenLurkin

The Chinese spy balloon that traversed US airspace before being shot down over the weekend was roughly 200 feet tall, weighed thousands of pounds — and may have carried explosives meant for self-destruction, a top US general revealed Monday.

The since-obliterated spy craft’s payload was approximately the size of a regional jet airliner, Air Force General Glen VanHerck, head of US North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Northern Command (NORCOM), said as he disclosed fresh details about the surveillance device.

“Of the payload itself, I would categorize that as a jet-airliner type of size, maybe a regional jet such as a ERJ [Embraer Regional Jet] or something like that. [It] probably weighed in excess of a couple thousand pounds.” [???]

Asked about the potential hazards if the balloon had been shot down over land, VanHerck said the device had “glass off of [its] solar panels; potentially hazardous material, such as material that is required for batteries to operate in such an environment as this; and even the potential for explosives to detonate and destroy the balloon that could have been present.”

He stopped short of confirming that the balloon was, in fact, carrying explosives.

China tried to claim the balloon was just a weather research “airship” that had blown off course...

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


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: chinese; norad; nukecapable; spyballoon
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To: No name given

It could carry an EMP device, or a small nuke, no problem.


41 posted on 02/06/2023 1:44:06 PM PST by wrench
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To: Eccl 10:2

“Because: it flew at an extremely high altitude (50,000+ feet), doesn’t have much of a radar signature,”

The news is reporting the payload size was the size of a jetliner.

If a radar system can’t detect something as large as a commercial jetliner, it’s a cause for concern. This is because commercial jetliners are significantly larger in length and wingspan than nuclear missiles, which are compact and highly maneuverable, and typically have a much smaller mass.

The effectiveness of our missile defense system is called into question if we can’t bring down a balloon with a payload the size of a commercial jetliner. Is the USA a paper tiger now?


42 posted on 02/06/2023 1:44:13 PM PST by DEPcom (DC is not my Capitol after Jan 6th lock downs.)
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To: BenLurkin

Those were some big school buses! All three of ‘em.


43 posted on 02/06/2023 1:50:38 PM PST by Nervous Tick (Truth is not hate speech.)
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To: BenLurkin

44 posted on 02/06/2023 1:54:09 PM PST by red-dawg (They're going to have to pry my gasoline powered car from my cold, dead hands.)
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To: BenLurkin

***and may have carried explosives meant for self-destruction,***

And should have been destroyed BEFORE it entered US Air space. Wonder if “The Big Guy” got his 10% to ignore it till after it completed it’s mission.


45 posted on 02/06/2023 1:54:20 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar (“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

They could measure altitude and distance by radar. They can measure angular diameter by optical telescope, and use that to calculate linear diameter. It’s not that hard. The moon subtends roughly half a degree. The moon is roughly 240,000 miles away. What is the diameter of the moon, roughly?


46 posted on 02/06/2023 1:55:47 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.)
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To: DEPcom

Biden needed to wait until the Chinese had finished collecting everything they wanted. Once it had finished, Biden was allowed to shoot it down, and the Chinese pretended to be offended by him doing it.


47 posted on 02/06/2023 1:56:16 PM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: BenLurkin

I’m assuming that the dispersal canister was empty by the time we got around to shooting it down...

Hell!
They got away with the last (successful) sneak attack that killed hundreds of thousands, broke the U.S. economy, and introduced a plethora of draconian rules & policies...
Why wouldn’t they send a follow-up...


48 posted on 02/06/2023 1:57:02 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is the next Sam Adams when we so desperatly need him)
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To: BenLurkin

They probably pulled those numbers from their butts.


49 posted on 02/06/2023 1:59:07 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BenLurkin

Totally random thought: aiming a balloon is truly hit or miss if your launch point is half a world away … so if you are investigating atmospheric or earth phenomena in particular you’re gonna need a lot of luck to, say if you were a ChiCom Ancient Aliens believer, get a balloon over the Skinwalker Ranch or Lake Titicaca or Pumapunku trying to see if there really is a concentration of cosmic rays above the former or anything screwy emitting from the latter.

Yet such people ARE the sort to not have access to proper satellites (or as one guy said in Futurama: people who believe in Bigfoot are usually poor).

Why can’t it be far stranger than just odd? I realize the balloon was too large for this use ... but would be more fun if it was.


50 posted on 02/06/2023 2:05:26 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: BenLurkin

One thing is for sure. Whatever it’s mission was it completed it successfully.


51 posted on 02/06/2023 2:13:55 PM PST by Revel
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To: BenLurkin

They really didn’t want to tell us about this. It looks like they were trying to get by. China is our enemy and all those Chinese really are spies.


52 posted on 02/06/2023 2:15:08 PM PST by 5inch38gunner
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Imagine a 2,000 payload of fentynal dropped over a city from a balloon. It would spread out long ways. One way to get rid of the people and not harm the infrastructure.


53 posted on 02/06/2023 2:25:21 PM PST by oldasrocks (quew)
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To: Eccl 10:2

So our systems can’t detect a 200 ft tall baloon carrying a 2000 lb payload? If this is correct, China owns our airspace. Pretty sure the U2 and SR-7! Routinely fly at 60k to 80k ceiling.


54 posted on 02/06/2023 2:32:01 PM PST by parmamenian (and so it goes!)
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To: BenLurkin
200 feet tall, weighed thousands of pounds

Not buying it. It was a typical weather balloon carried on the jet stream weather currents.

It would have had a massive engine and propulsion system to direct it to wherever the Chinese wanted it and at an elevation of 58,000 to 60,000 feet, there would have been little oxygen to keep those engines fired. And that would have to include the additional fuel source.......

55 posted on 02/06/2023 2:33:09 PM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: Eccl 10:2; Jewbacca

(50,000+ feet)

And 100+ mph?

Right at the edge of the service ceiling. I’ll bet Jewbacca could have slowed down to have made a strafing pass at 1,000 yards and done it in with 20mm.

Just a few holes. 😬😂

BUT I don’t know what airspeed is required to keep an F-16 aloft at that altitude.


56 posted on 02/06/2023 2:34:30 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Lazamataz

Always go for the hot and sour

Put just a little fried rice in it


57 posted on 02/06/2023 2:37:09 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Robert DeLong

Wow. Do this.


58 posted on 02/06/2023 2:50:56 PM PST by MarMema (Orange Putin Bad)
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To: SuperLuminal

“I’m assuming that the dispersal canister was empty by the time we got around to shooting it down...”

That is what worried me.


59 posted on 02/06/2023 2:51:59 PM PST by MarMema (Orange Putin Bad)
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To: BenLurkin
payload itself, I would categorize that as a jet-airliner type of size, maybe a regional jet such as a ERJ [Embraer Regional Jet] or something like that. [It] probably weighed in excess of a couple thousand pounds.” [???]

Maybe, could have? Now it's bigger than the two buses previously reported?

You really don't know for sure do you Jake so you got to come up with some spectacular numbers......LOL!

What a F'n clown show this has become with folks falling for the BS..........

60 posted on 02/06/2023 2:52:30 PM PST by Hot Tabasco
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