Several unanswered questions, as far as I know.

What kind of sensors did it have? Optical? IR? SIGINT? (If so, what systems/wavelengths was it looking to exploit?) COMINT? (Again, what systems were they trying to exploit?). LIDAR/ground mapping? Radar? Ground-penetrating radar? These are all very important questions to ask.

Next, what did it do with the data collected? Was it sent off board immediately or was the data only stored on board? If the payload was not transmitting, then no reason to worry. However, given the volatile nature of data recovery from a balloon, I assume the system was actively transmitting data.

So, if it was actively transmitting, did we intercept the signals it was sending? And if we did, could we break their encryption to see what they know? orrrr were we able to jam their signal?

Finally, on destruction, did they hit the balloon or the payload? I'm sure you would attempt to hit the balloon in hopes of retrieving and exploiting the payload. So, what optimizes your chances of payload recovery? A water landing or hitting the ground?

Lots to ponder, and these are the questions our press should be asking, and I'm sure this was the discussion going on inside the DOD.

fka ftc said:

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Trump would have returned the balloon to sender via a Minuteman III to Beijing. We all know it, and even Xi knew it which is why he save balloon for Biden.

Now quit trolling.

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LMAO. That's a great response. I must admit that I thought you were serous for a minute or two.

Not a Bot said:

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agent-maroon said:

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Quote:

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I'm guessing we disabled it's surveillance capabilities before this hit the news.

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One would certainly hope so. But what was it trying to accomplish with all the maneuvering? Did someone think it could run away somewhere and hide?

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It was floating with the prevailing upper atmospheric winds.

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Whatever - it meandered to practically every important nuke facility or base.

fka ftc said:

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Trump would have returned the balloon to sender via a Minuteman III to Beijing. We all know it, and even Xi knew it which is why he save balloon for Biden.

Now quit trolling.

---

Frankly, I am glad our leaders didn't fire an ICBM over this so I am not sure what point you're trying to make.

This balloon probably didn't have much intelligence significance in the satellite era. It's more about making a statement that they intend to compete with us on the global stage and as a bit of psychological warfare. I'm glad we shot it down, demonstrating our capability to do so as we see fit. And I think it's best for Americans, (presuming that's what y'all want) that you don't blow the significance of this balloon out of proportion... Just remember what's at stake and why it is so important to contain China. Foriegn policy unity no matter who is in the White House will be our most powerful response - just saying. There's plenty to ***** about from Biden, but I think you're just stretching to make everything a political failure if that's what you turn this into.

eric76 said:

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fka ftc said:

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Trump would have returned the balloon to sender via a Minuteman III to Beijing. We all know it, and even Xi knew it which is why he save balloon for Biden.

Now quit trolling.

---

LMAO. That's a great response. I must admit that I thought you were serous for a minute or two.

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Regardless, if trump had waited to shoot it down until there was a zero percent chance of civilian casualties the way we did today he would have been endlessly praised by most on here and the left would be the ones pissed about it.

Gordo14 said:

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fka ftc said:

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Trump would have returned the balloon to sender via a Minuteman III to Beijing. We all know it, and even Xi knew it which is why he save balloon for Biden.

Now quit trolling.

---

Frankly, I am glad our leaders didn't fire an ICBM over this so I am not sure what point you're trying to make.

This balloon probably didn't have much intelligence significance in the satellite era. It's more about making a statement that they intend to compete with us on the global stage and as a bit of psychological warfare. I'm glad we shot it down, demonstrating our capability to do so as we see fit. And I think it's best for Americans, (presuming that's what y'all want) that you don't blow the significance of this balloon out of proportion... Just remember what's at stake and why it is so important to contain China. Foriegn policy unity no matter who is in the White House will be our most powerful response - just saying. There's plenty to ***** about from Biden, but I think you're just stretching to make everything a political failure if that's what you turn this into.

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If I was the Chinese, I'd be tempted to set up a fleet of cars with camera and electronic gear on top, mark them as "Google Street View" cars and send them out to gather intelligence. Instead of being mad about them, everyone would just be smiling for the camera.

B-1 83 said:

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redcrayon said:

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Rapier108 said:

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redcrayon said:

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We can't just shoot stuff down and endanger civilians. That debris can kill people and destroy property.

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When it was over Montana, there are virtually nothing for it to fall on. Should have been blasted out of the sky right then and there.

Actually, should have shot it down over the Aleutian Islands.

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Why would we do that when we had disabled it's ability to gather and transmit data?

You can't predict where the debris will land. This isn't that simple.

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With all the brilliant minds we have in this country, computers, etc…….we couldn't have popped that damn thing in Eastern Washington and predicted where it would fall within 20 miles in the vast expanses of Montana or the Rocky Mountains?

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They're not being transparent. Or, they were afraid it might land on Sasquatch.

J. Walter Weatherman said:

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eric76 said:

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fka ftc said:

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Trump would have returned the balloon to sender via a Minuteman III to Beijing. We all know it, and even Xi knew it which is why he save balloon for Biden.

Now quit trolling.

---

LMAO. That's a great response. I must admit that I thought you were serous for a minute or two.

---

Regardless, if trump had waited to shoot it down until there was a zero percent chance of civilian casualties the way we did today he would have been endlessly praised by most on here and the left would be the ones pissed about it.

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What civilian casualties? Especially in rural Montana

J. Walter Weatherman said:

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eric76 said:

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fka ftc said:

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Trump would have returned the balloon to sender via a Minuteman III to Beijing. We all know it, and even Xi knew it which is why he save balloon for Biden.

Now quit trolling.

---

LMAO. That's a great response. I must admit that I thought you were serous for a minute or two.

---

Regardless, if trump had waited to shoot it down until there was a zero percent chance of civilian casualties the way we did today he would have been endlessly praised by most on here and the left would be the ones pissed about it.

---

The surface of the earth is something like 70% water. If he shot down ten balloons over Montana, seven of them would have landed in the ocean.

This. My whole family is from Eastern Montana. Whole new definition of rural

All of our secrets must have been in the Atlantic

agent-maroon said:

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Trump hasn't been president for over two years. Why is he being drug into the conversation about an incident that we all just witnessed in real time? Whataboutisms are pathetic at best

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Because he won the last election, should be president now and he may win again?

richardag said:

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B-1 83 said:

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redcrayon said:

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Rapier108 said:

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redcrayon said:

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We can't just shoot stuff down and endanger civilians. That debris can kill people and destroy property.

---

When it was over Montana, there are virtually nothing for it to fall on. Should have been blasted out of the sky right then and there.

Actually, should have shot it down over the Aleutian Islands.

---

Why would we do that when we had disabled it's ability to gather and transmit data?

You can't predict where the debris will land. This isn't that simple.

---

With all the brilliant minds we have in this country, computers, etc…….we couldn't have popped that damn thing in Eastern Washington and predicted where it would fall within 20 miles in the vast expanses of Montana or the Rocky Mountains?

---

They're not being transparent. Or, they were afraid it might land on Sasquatch.

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Occam's Razor - they're lying

Because several people keep saying "Well ya know this would never have happened if Trump was in power!" And attempting to politicize it as a Dem v Rep thing. Except that it did happen previously when Reps held office.

It doesn't change the fact that I think the Biden admin was wrong for not shooting it down before it got over US airspace or that to attack him for not taking action is out of bounds.

Speaking to this as someone who has posted multiple times on this thread and never voted Dem. I just don't like hypocrisy or the fact that everything is a political op. Things have become too polarized.

Just want to get to truth and not be sheep.

Also, the irony is that while not a huge Trump fan, my fav thing about is presidency was that someone finally stood up and took it to China.

Even if he overlooked balloons, as supposedly we have been spying on China by aircraft w/o recourse for years.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/murrellsinlet/permalink/1703234273451243/

Turn on sound and enjoy!

This count as an air-to-air victory?

Paint a balloon on the F-22 fuselage?

eric76 said:

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Gordo14 said:

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fka ftc said:

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Trump would have returned the balloon to sender via a Minuteman III to Beijing. We all know it, and even Xi knew it which is why he save balloon for Biden.

Now quit trolling.

---

Frankly, I am glad our leaders didn't fire an ICBM over this so I am not sure what point you're trying to make.

This balloon probably didn't have much intelligence significance in the satellite era. It's more about making a statement that they intend to compete with us on the global stage and as a bit of psychological warfare. I'm glad we shot it down, demonstrating our capability to do so as we see fit. And I think it's best for Americans, (presuming that's what y'all want) that you don't blow the significance of this balloon out of proportion... Just remember what's at stake and why it is so important to contain China. Foriegn policy unity no matter who is in the White House will be our most powerful response - just saying. There's plenty to ***** about from Biden, but I think you're just stretching to make everything a political failure if that's what you turn this into.

---

If I was the Chinese, I'd be tempted to set up a fleet of cars with camera and electronic gear on top, mark them as "Google Street View" cars and send them out to gather intelligence. Instead of being mad about them, everyone would just be smiling for the camera.

---

Why go through all that trouble when Google would just give it to them.

Chinese are looking at taking over Yellowstone ranch....

What? NORAD covers Canada. WTH?

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-tracked-suspected-chinese-spy-balloon-over-canadian-airspace-since-last-weekend-sources-1.6259770

aggiehawg said:

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What? NORAD covers Canada. WTH?

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-tracked-suspected-chinese-spy-balloon-over-canadian-airspace-since-last-weekend-sources-1.6259770

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NORAD has always been a combined command with Canada as it was originally created to defend North America against a Soviet nuclear attack. Whether it was the threat of Soviet heavy bombers, or intercontinental ballistic missiles, the threat would come from over the North Pole, thus having Canada involved.

Amazing NORAD is nails tracking Santa each year but giant Chinese spy balloon taking a week to cross the ocean on way to US is way too much to expect.

Bird Poo said:

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UntoldSpirit said:

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My thoughts are that letting Chinese balloons wander around over the Continental US is a REALLY BAD IDEA, regardless if we think its just collecting data that we aren't that worried about.

I don't think we can know China's intentions with perfect knowledge. EMP weapons? Biological weapons? Nuclear weapons or radiation bombs? Who knows? How can we take this kind of risk just because we THINK we know what the balloon is doing and its relatively harmless?

Seems incredibly ignorant to me. It should have been taken out in Alaska, but any future balloons need to be taken out as soon as we detect them in our airspace. This seems obvious to me and its hard to understand the rationale for letting them do this.

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The rationale is 10% to the big guy.

Those chickens are coming home to roost.

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This isn't just the idiot in the oval office. When we allow stuff like this to happen I cannot help but think we have a significant number of people high in command who are compromised.

In short, we are China's btch

Just wait. We will give all that stuff back to them to avoid an international incident.

Oh Good Grief. US Military Fears China May Reach Balloon Wreckage Before They Can Get There - Proper Salvage Vessel Won't Be There For Days

https://tiny.iavian.net/1t7dc

Big Money Aggie said:

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Oh Good Grief. US Military Fears China May Reach Balloon Wreckage Before They Can Get There - Proper Salvage Vessel Won't Be There For Days

https://tiny.iavian.net/1t7dc

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I'd say somebody go get it but our military is probably guarding it

Big Money Aggie said:

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Oh Good Grief. US Military Fears China May Reach Balloon Wreckage Before They Can Get There - Proper Salvage Vessel Won't Be There For Days

https://tiny.iavian.net/1t7dc

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The Pentagon was giving the balloon an opportunity to identify itself as a Goodyear blimp while it was drifting over the continent

Burdizzo said:

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Bird Poo said:

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UntoldSpirit said:

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My thoughts are that letting Chinese balloons wander around over the Continental US is a REALLY BAD IDEA, regardless if we think its just collecting data that we aren't that worried about.

I don't think we can know China's intentions with perfect knowledge. EMP weapons? Biological weapons? Nuclear weapons or radiation bombs? Who knows? How can we take this kind of risk just because we THINK we know what the balloon is doing and its relatively harmless?

Seems incredibly ignorant to me. It should have been taken out in Alaska, but any future balloons need to be taken out as soon as we detect them in our airspace. This seems obvious to me and its hard to understand the rationale for letting them do this.

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The rationale is 10% to the big guy.

Those chickens are coming home to roost.

---

This isn't just the idiot in the oval office. When we allow stuff like this to happen I cannot help but think we have a significant number of people high in command who are compromised.

In short, we are China's btch

Just wait. We will give all that stuff back to them to avoid an international incident.

---

You understand that obama's main agenda was decimating the senior military of any real americans, and i doubt trump could halt that process given it was already largely done. Certainly its accellerated again under biden and i am pretty well convinced the process may have started as early as w, if nit hw.

If there are any real americans left in the senior military its by accident or keeping heads down against a strong anti american leftist tide.

2023 is a wild place.

We out here talkin' spy balloons.

Who would've thought?