Houngan
3276
Other side maybe? The books are just Winnie the Pooh, right?
Probably just a copy and paste from a different Winnie the Pooh product and English was likely not the creator’s first language so no one caught the issue.
Skipper
3279
I’ve seen guesses that these may have been used for communication surveillance, which … doesn’t really make sense to me at 20 to 40K feet above the ground and with no feed back to whomever is running the surveillance. @abrandt 's take that they could be for probing our monitoring capability is really the only thing that makes sense if these are all small balloons. What value could you attach to something adrift like that if not for weather? Or if something like an autonomous drone, did it have the ability to pass over us undetected, etc.
The one downed in South Carolina is much bigger and makes more sense as a platform for something providing more value as a sensor.
pyrhic
3280
I’m just feeling that maybe we should identify things before we shoot them down. What if we shoot down marty mcfly? the future might never be restored…
More seriously, i’m curious where these are coming from - prevailing winds suggest ships in the arctic maybe?
abrandt
3281
It’s not like they aren’t taking flights and checking them out before they decide to shoot them down.
Thing is, how relevant to say the situation in WESTPAC are domestic US surveillance and tracking abilities? Are the systems the same, or even similar? I truly don’t know, but it seems that operationally the stuff near China that the Chinese would be focusing on is largely Navy assets and stuff that in general is either not found in CONUS normally or is something like national systems that are the same all over. Dunno.
wisefool
3284
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/1st-missile-strike-at-aerial-object-over-lake-huron-missed/2023/02/14/20b47a1a-ac7d-11ed-b0ba-9f4244c6e5da_story.html
WASHINGTON — The three still-unidentified aerial objects shot down by the U.S. in the past week likely had merely a “benign purpose,” the White House acknowledged Tuesday, drawing a distinction between them and the massive Chinese balloon that earlier traversed the U.S. with a suspected goal of surveillance.
“The intelligence community is considering as a leading explanation that these could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
Still unaddressed are questions about the original balloon, including what spying capabilities it had and whether it was transmitting signals as it flew over sensitive military sites in the United States.
Interesting the only senators quoted are 2 republicans.
Still, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the successful recent interceptions were likely to have a “calming influence” and make future shootdowns less likely.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters after the briefing that he didn’t think the objects posed a threat.
American balloons need to have big flags on them for easier identification!
Also dumb question probably, but why aren’t we using the gun’s on a jet to shoot the balloons down?
Timex
3287
They tried shooting down a weather balloon with guns once, and the big issue is that it doesn’t bring the balloon down fast enough.
Even after pumping a ton of rounds through it, these balloons don’t “pop” like a tiny balloon simply from being punctured, due to toughness of their surface. So, while shooting a balloon with guns will in fact bring it down, it’ll take days for it to lose enough air to finally hit the ground.
Shooting it with a missile means that it’ll explode and drop.
Skipper
3288
Fixed.
If we do one thing well in America it’s doing something a little faster with really outrageously priced military gear.
Timex
3289
Well, in this case allowing something to stay in the air for days means you’re failing to accomplish the primary goal of the mission.
Skipper
3290
I dunno, those things look VERY balloon-like. I hate to sound like some nutter conspiracist but I hope to god it’s a better story than multiple pilots and tracking control operators failing to note they looked like balloons.
ShivaX
3291
Not sure on the ballistics, but cannon rounds probably remain a lot more dangerous than missile shrapnel for a longer time as well.
Also the mission is “drop it over a body of water” not just “make it drop”.
If you engage with guns and then it finally lands on a highway in Michigan someplace, that’s going to be awkward.
Timex
3292
The thing is, when you shoot “a balloon”, what happens depends on the material the skin of the balloon is made of.
pyrhic
3293
I dunno, to me that kinda looks like the millenium falcon shooting at…a small, black, transport craft of some sort? It’s hard to say, but the top is definitely the falcon
Skipper
3294
Traveling through hyperspace aint like dusting crops.
pyrhic
3295
Yknow, that could be a womp rat - used to bullseye those in my t-16 back home…
