So let me get this straight. The United States Air Force wasted nearly $1,000,000 in AIM-9X missiles to down what looks to be a trash bag with a radio attached to it. Never mind the cost to scramble the jets themselves. And they did that because the Biden administration was desperate to save face after looking pathetically weak in dealing with the original Chinese spy balloon?
you do realise that the stated planes ceiling is not the absolute limit of the height it can climb to?
look up 'zoom-climb'
F-22 has a stated ceiling of 65,000ft (likely higher in reality), and whilst I can't find any figures for one using zoom climb, you have to assume one could pass 90,000 ft using this technique - (considering a 1960's designed F-4 Phantom II achieved over 98,000 ft doing this, and it’s service ceiling was only 60,000ft)
then consider the range of a 20mm Vulcan canon shell has a range of up to 18,000ft (although accurately hitting something at that range would be somewhat lucky)
Do keep in mind that I am not the supreme authority on aeronautics in these parts. Neither am I a pilot.
Well, that's fantastic to know that a plane CAN do that, but it doesn't mean that it should. Wouldn't it cause an unnecessary strain on the plane itself? Shortening the service life of its components? Doing a complex maneuver to shoot down an unidentified object without knowing whether it has offensive capabilities is unnecessarily risky. (did they know it was a balloon? What's if it's something nimble? Did they know it at that time?)
Probably cheaper to just fire a missile without risking the plane or the pilot. Can you imagine what would've happened if the plane had a malfunction and crashed trying to shoot what later would become known a silly balloon? The US wouldn't hear the end of it!
It wouldn't cause any strain. Did you not even bother to look up the details of a zoom climb? You accelerate to your maximum speed in horizontal flight at an altitude where you're still capable of stable flight and acceleration and then do a hard turn into vertical flight to gain altitude. You don't need additional thrust in the vertical direction. You're trading your built up energy in horizontal flight for altitude in the vertical flight.
Nope, it’s not exactly stressing the airframe, you're just trading speed for altitude...
the technique was developed to counter the Soviet high-flying bombers that were belived to be able to reach 65,000+ft (much like the British Canberra that could cruise at 70,000+)
RIP to the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s ~$80 ham radio transmitter balloon, likely the victim of friendly fire by a $143,000,000 USAF F-22 firing a $485,000 AIM-9X Sidewinder missile during the Great Balloon Panic of 2023.
Total incompetence. This "Administration" is an absolute joke.
And China is currently in the process of doing the same in the same manner.
While I like to say there is only one way out of communism, there is always the option of waiting for it to collapse under the own weight of its illogic. However, that is always the worse option since the Bolsheviks get away without punishment.
I can't wait to find out the next totally mundane thing our government is completely clueless about and when they learn about it will immediately start throwing explosives at it.
No wonder the F-16 that fired on the object missed the first time. It was the size of a beanbag chair.
It was a cheap Mylar balloon.
That's why they didn't recover the tiny "spy balloon".
Imagine looking in huge Lake Huron for a aluminum coated oversized garbage bag.
They may have even found it but are to embarrassed to even show it.
Remember when the left became accountants overnight when Trump fired those missiles at that airbase, but are dead silent when Biden spends millions downing hobby balloons?
Seems awfully suspicious to me that the pentagon tells us they “shot down an object the size of a car but may not recover the debri, but it also might be China”, but now suddenly there’s a hobby balloon story that the press is pushing and BOOOM just like that everyone laughs at the funny old guy and stops asking questions about what the fuck really happened.
But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.
My favorite part:
“I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” says Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), a Silicon Valley company that makes purpose-built pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists.
Are we ready for another one tomorrow:
The community is also nervous that their balloons could be shot down next. Medlin says one of his balloons—call sign W5KUB-112—is projected by HYSPLIT to enter U.S. airspace on Feb. 17. It already circumnavigated the globe several times, but its trajectory last carried the object over China before it will enter either Mexican or U.S. airspace.
The Biden admin and media claim the Biden people briefed the Trump people on these balloons before Biden took office, but Trump wouldn't do anything about them. Biden made it a priority, so on day 1 of his admin he put in place a long term plan to address these balloons.
The result is spending millions to take down a few hundred dollars worth of hobbyist balloons.
The first balloon that they let spy on the entire usa from alaska to off the east coast, was gigantic, not a hobby balloon. Anything biden says about former admin or any plans is complete bullshit in an attempt to not look incompetent. Their present trigger happiness is just reactionary, trying to not look like buffoons but theyre just making it worse. And honestly it seems like its a scandal inside a scandal because this balloon scandal is almost certainly one ofany planned media circuses to distract from the things that are the real scandals.
There's a real sense of panic in the air. Brandon can't win without the Intel agencies and they seem to have turned on him since he made them blow up Nordstream.
we have an invasion at southern border, and an actual war we are fighting against Russia, and fox news, hannity, etc. keep screaming about fucking balloons.
of course Russia is not OUR enemy (yours or mine). I'm on Russia's side, I believe they are in the right. my point was, we are still fighting an unjust war against them, using Ukraine as a proxy. my point was, THIS IS A REAL ISSUE. you've sent 100 billion dollars to Ukraine, you've blown up a pipeline and committed an act of war, and this thing could go nuclear. we should be concerned with this, not some fucking balloon.
Could shorten the article to this paragraph
That's quite a "Hefty" price tag.
Your joke is trash.
I was Glad to see this.
Joe deserves to suck on a low density polyethylene bag the rest of his life.
I refuse to read anymore of these lame jokes...
Do they make kid-scented trash bags now?
Slow your roll before I have to curb your enthusiasm.
I almost threw away your comment, before I saw the pun.
Did you put it in the recycle bin?
These puns are providing great value.
I love this place
Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy.
HEFTY HEFTY HEFTY
Wimpy wimpy wimpy
It’s a cinch.
You want me to say wimpy wimpy wimpy but I'm not gonna do it.
Don't get mad get Glad.
I'm still going to recycle it.
That’s a hefty claim
I'm Glad® the truth is coming out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR3jnW2kcUs
Garbage administration - take them out, it's time to toss out the trash
Its a dumpster fire for sure
Dont forget the damage to the planet with the carbon footprint of all that fossil fuel
Yes, we need a Mahattan Project to develop and build F-22 and F-35 battery powered engines !
Where's the Wright Brothers when we need them.
Hey,
wait a minute,
how come Elon isn't using battery powered rockets to launch those Starlink satellites.
I'm no ballistics expert, but wouldn't a few 20mm rounds been sufficient?
It is my understanding that the flying object was at a higher altitude than the operational ceiling of the plane.
you do realise that the stated planes ceiling is not the absolute limit of the height it can climb to?
look up 'zoom-climb'
F-22 has a stated ceiling of 65,000ft (likely higher in reality), and whilst I can't find any figures for one using zoom climb, you have to assume one could pass 90,000 ft using this technique - (considering a 1960's designed F-4 Phantom II achieved over 98,000 ft doing this, and it’s service ceiling was only 60,000ft)
then consider the range of a 20mm Vulcan canon shell has a range of up to 18,000ft (although accurately hitting something at that range would be somewhat lucky)
Do keep in mind that I am not the supreme authority on aeronautics in these parts. Neither am I a pilot.
Well, that's fantastic to know that a plane CAN do that, but it doesn't mean that it should. Wouldn't it cause an unnecessary strain on the plane itself? Shortening the service life of its components? Doing a complex maneuver to shoot down an unidentified object without knowing whether it has offensive capabilities is unnecessarily risky. (did they know it was a balloon? What's if it's something nimble? Did they know it at that time?)
Probably cheaper to just fire a missile without risking the plane or the pilot. Can you imagine what would've happened if the plane had a malfunction and crashed trying to shoot what later would become known a silly balloon? The US wouldn't hear the end of it!
It wouldn't cause any strain. Did you not even bother to look up the details of a zoom climb? You accelerate to your maximum speed in horizontal flight at an altitude where you're still capable of stable flight and acceleration and then do a hard turn into vertical flight to gain altitude. You don't need additional thrust in the vertical direction. You're trading your built up energy in horizontal flight for altitude in the vertical flight.
Do you know if the plane is as nimble when performing such a maneuver as it is during normal flight?
Again, was it known that the UNIDENTIFIED object was a harmless balloon at that time?
If the UNIDENTIFIED object had some kind of offensive capabilities, wouldn't it be able to shoot the plane down easily when performing this maneuver?
Nope, it’s not exactly stressing the airframe, you're just trading speed for altitude...
the technique was developed to counter the Soviet high-flying bombers that were belived to be able to reach 65,000+ft (much like the British Canberra that could cruise at 70,000+)
Do you know if the plane is as nimble when performing such a maneuver as it is during normal flight?
Again, was it known that the UNIDENTIFIED object was a harmless balloon at that time?
If the UNIDENTIFIED object had some kind of offensive capabilities, wouldn't it be able to shoot the plane down easily when performing this maneuver?
that's not the argument...
it would be easy to do a fly-by and look at it first, it’s a fucking balloon, not UFO
How about this>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hba-oVEk3w&ab_channel=G4Outdoors
The admin blew up a carload of kids to save face in Afghanistan. This is a significant improvement over past performance.
🎈 Kill is Kill 😄
Why does one single missile cost $485k?
Oh right. Nevermind.
All the $35k spanners required to tighten the nuts, and totally not to buttfuck the taxpayer, no sirree bob.
And unions
And non-profits, NGOs, Civil rights litigators and propagandists, social media, cable, Google, 23andMe, and the list goes on and on.
Our entire system is designed to control.
10% for Dementia Joe.
Military-Industrial Complex? I got nothing on this one.
Seems cheap when an average city pays $50k to repaint one park bench into faggot colors for the faggot month every year.
Missiles made of pure gold.
Total incompetence. This "Administration" is an absolute joke.
Yo we can't go to war with anyone. We're gunna lose with Milley the fag lover and Biden.
Military is turning into a rainbow of fags.
technically Russia and China were also hosts for the communist parasite infecting us.
Were. Russia got rid of their parasite.
And China is currently in the process of doing the same in the same manner.
While I like to say there is only one way out of communism, there is always the option of waiting for it to collapse under the own weight of its illogic. However, that is always the worse option since the Bolsheviks get away without punishment.
I can't wait to find out the next totally mundane thing our government is completely clueless about and when they learn about it will immediately start throwing explosives at it.
Correction: two Sidewinders
It was a cheap Mylar balloon.
That's why they didn't recover the tiny "spy balloon".
Imagine looking in huge Lake Huron for a aluminum coated oversized garbage bag.
They may have even found it but are to embarrassed to even show it.
Remember when the left became accountants overnight when Trump fired those missiles at that airbase, but are dead silent when Biden spends millions downing hobby balloons?
Meanwhile, a child is still looking for her birthday balloon she accidentally released out the car window 😢
If anyone has any plans to go up in a hot air balloon any time soon, I'd probably postpone them for the time being.
They declared war on HAM radio operators!
*Sad Nellie Orr noises
Finally those FCC complaints against Mudduck are paying off.
No kids, no lids, no space cadets.
Dog and pony shows always have a bunch of horse shit !
The worst thing is this was likely launched by the USA and then shot down by the USA.
Why is a post with no replies pinned?
There went someone's science project down the toilet.
Seems awfully suspicious to me that the pentagon tells us they “shot down an object the size of a car but may not recover the debri, but it also might be China”, but now suddenly there’s a hobby balloon story that the press is pushing and BOOOM just like that everyone laughs at the funny old guy and stops asking questions about what the fuck really happened.
They have decades of research into human reactionary behaviour and are experts in controlling how we react and shifting narratives.
You'll be 100% correct that this is tactical.
Chinese spy balloon: ok
Middle school kids science project :SCRAMBLE THE JETS!!
Wonder if they'll take the kid to the white house and make him an overnight IFuckingLoveScience celebrity
(See: lunch box bomb)
It's obvious they are overcompensating
Sure hope they don't accidentally shoot down Hunter
Failing economy. Flailing military. Terrorist acts on EU infrastructure. This entire fiasco is the perfect representation of BIden's residency.
The original source of the story: https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/hobby-clubs-missing-balloon-feared-shot-down-usaf
My favorite part:
Are we ready for another one tomorrow:
Alaska, but what about Lake Huron?
We've gone from Obama giving awards to kids for making suitcase bombs, to Biden shooting down real science projects.
Boooooorn in the USA (emphasis on the out of key singing).
Remember, that boy "inwented a clock" - aka put a clock into a case to make it look like a bomb.
DISTRACTION.
Humiliation.
They're full on retarded
Not a bad cover story.
Fuck Peter Meijer, voted twice for Trump impeachment. Primaried in 2022 courtesy of Kent County MI
I was one of those voters who primaried his ass. Now the bored son of a billionaire has his eyes on Debbie Stabenow’s senate seat.
The Biden admin and media claim the Biden people briefed the Trump people on these balloons before Biden took office, but Trump wouldn't do anything about them. Biden made it a priority, so on day 1 of his admin he put in place a long term plan to address these balloons.
The result is spending millions to take down a few hundred dollars worth of hobbyist balloons.
The first balloon that they let spy on the entire usa from alaska to off the east coast, was gigantic, not a hobby balloon. Anything biden says about former admin or any plans is complete bullshit in an attempt to not look incompetent. Their present trigger happiness is just reactionary, trying to not look like buffoons but theyre just making it worse. And honestly it seems like its a scandal inside a scandal because this balloon scandal is almost certainly one ofany planned media circuses to distract from the things that are the real scandals.
All true.
There's a real sense of panic in the air. Brandon can't win without the Intel agencies and they seem to have turned on him since he made them blow up Nordstream.
LOL @ Emerald Robinson and her Chiense anti-gravity mach 5 exotic vehicles post
The guys that shot it down described it as black octagonal with strings hanging down
I bet it was a Trump Balloon...
You Motherfuckers make me laugh daily. Thanks for that! God keep all of ya.
RIP in peace
we have an invasion at southern border, and an actual war we are fighting against Russia, and fox news, hannity, etc. keep screaming about fucking balloons.
Russia is not the enemy. IDGAF about Ukraine.
of course Russia is not OUR enemy (yours or mine). I'm on Russia's side, I believe they are in the right. my point was, we are still fighting an unjust war against them, using Ukraine as a proxy. my point was, THIS IS A REAL ISSUE. you've sent 100 billion dollars to Ukraine, you've blown up a pipeline and committed an act of war, and this thing could go nuclear. we should be concerned with this, not some fucking balloon.
Ice fishing tent..according to some annon..
We can’t have anything nice in Illinois. Thanks Joe and thanks Fat Fuck JB.
Sounds contrived. A US based 'hobbyist' loses their balloon immediately.
Convenient timing
Senator Kennedy offered more context on objects previously in U.S. airspace.
He said, “We know some of the objects, others we think we probably missed, and we don’t know what most of them are.”
Well at least he didn't give it to the taliban this time...
So do we know now then that were not dealing with xtrterrestrials here? (Honest question)