I love how they are trying to rationalize it by implying the explosives only would have been used to destroy the balloon itself. The Chinese sent a potentially armed spy balloon over our country and our DOD is making excuses for them after letting it go across the entire country.
Fact check: Do these types of balloons typically carry self-destructing explosives? TRUE.
(buried 9 paragraphs deep)
All Chinese spy balloons recovered on US soil contained self-destruction explosives. At the time or writing this article, we're only aware of one balloon recovered, but can confirm that 100% of balloons recovered have had explosives.
They often do. It's a small charge to drop the instrument package so that it can be recovered by ground crews. Not designed to destroy the valuable instruments, though.
I suspect in this case since obviously multiple balloons have been deployed the charges should also be designed to obscure the function of the communications and data collecting equipment since China is sending them (presumably without consent) over other sovereign nations. The CCP rhetoric over our discovery and downing of the one so far is highly suggestive.
My comment was in relation to actual weather balloons.
With the thing that was recently airborne over the US, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some sort of self-destruct mechanism to prevent identification of role and capability, or even recovery of equipment.
It's a bit like when Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U-2 he was flying was equipped with a variety of self-destruct mechanisms (as was he) to prevent hostile recovery of payload and sensors. Only it appears that none of them activated (or activated well enough to destroy the equipment). Not only was the shoot down a propaganda victory for the Soviets, the sensors and payload they recovered were a technical victory as well.
Or, more recently, when the EP-3 Aries was forced to land on Hainan island (2000 / 2001?). You can almost guarantee that the US crew spent every possible second destroying their equipment before landing. Perhaps even tossing hardware out of the aircraft.
Now, in that case, the aircraft suffered an almost catastrophic loss (the impact from the Chinese jet caused YUUUUUGE damage to the US airframe), so they might have been more prioritised with staying alive, than with the destruction of sensitive materiel.
So, while the Chinese lost a fighter and pilot, they gained something incredibly rare (even if damaged), and sending it home in pieces was just another part of the humiliation process.
This wasn’t a high tech U2 bomber. It was a balloon. All the data was relayed directly to the Chinese in real time. It was a one way trip. Should’ve been shot down the moment it entered American airspace or before.
I don't think there's any evidence that it was a "bomb" (sure didn't behave like one when it was shot down). But the Chinese are certainly not stupid enough to send a high-tech spy balloon over the US without ensuring that any equipment with intel value would self-destruct if the ballon came down under circumstances not fully controlled by the CCP.
Doesn't take a very big explosion to destroy small electronic devices thoroughly enough that they can't be reverse engineered and can't have their capabilities ascertained. It would be like blowing up a laptop. Most of the physical load of equipment would be relatively basic stuff that we wouldn't learn anything new from if we got hold of it intact; only a small portion would need to be protected from "capture".
Probably it was nothing to worry about. Its transmission capability probably really was shut down early on, as "Pentagon sources" have said, and it's extremely unlikely that it posed any serious threat if it was brought down (by us or by the CCP) over the US. Not even close to the threat currently posed by the derailed train full of vinyl chloride in Ohio. I suspect its main value was as a distraction. Is it really a coincidence that this balloon floated into our airspace just as Dementia Joe's classified documents problem was ramping up?
We should never believe everything our government officials tell us, of course. But that includes the parade of current and former elected and military people who have been filling the airwaves for the past few days with a well-harmonized chorus of howls about how "dangerous", "irresponsible", "incompetent", etc it was for the Biden administration not to shoot the balloon down the second it entered US airspace, because it was certainly "transmitting highly sensitive information about our military facilities back to China the whole time". They sound a lot like the late 2020 chorus singing "the Hunter Biden laptop isn't really his and has all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign".
That balloon came by for the last ounce of dignity this nation had and carried it out in broad daylight for everyone to see a weakened beaten down nation that is ran by big government of wokies and faggots (redundant I know).
Imagine believing, let alone listening to, anything that anyone in the government says about anything. It's all lies, propaganda and deflection, at all times.
It’s very plausible though. I wondered why an effort wasn’t made to deflate slowly, then capture the apparatus intact. Then, I thought hey, it’s probably rigged to blow…
Now I know my theory was bullshit because the government said it wasn’t.
Because it wasn't China's - and/or they already knew what it was doing. If it was a MAGA promo hot air balloon, they would've retrieved it or blown it up ASAP. Imo, they knew what it was doing and they deflected until the mission was complete - then destroyed it.
Aren't they trained to intercept stuff like this? Saw a documentary on the military launching and retrieving giant "weather balloons."
Everything is a conspiracy theory now, so might've been bs - but who's to say that this balloon wasn't one of ours that lost altitude and became visible to the public?
I even wondered if it was possible to have a nuclear warhead aboard it and that they could detonate it. Who knows what those crazy chinks are up to. This could be a test for something like this in the future.
Lol. I almost posted on this the other day but didn’t. I think back to the old Mission Impossible tv series where it says this tape will self destruct in five seconds. China isn’t stupid. They are not going to freely hand over any technology or information gathered to us.
How many small drones could fit on that balloon aircraft. How much in Chinese money does it cost to make thousands of them. What countries have been interested in developing/pioneering/perfecting swarming technology recently.
The satellite was laughingly underpowered to do anything like deep ground penetration and probably helped to conceal its real mission, which is/was to release thousands of little drones into the U.S.A. to do information gathering.
I swore I read something a year or so ago that sounds similar ok i found it
Not Chinese. Our own govt is going to nuke an American city + they needed a scapegoat. We sold nuclear codes to China yrs ago. This is just a cover story. Setting up the shot. Now they can attack us + blame the ballon 🙄
Sure, I trust all of those who put us into endless wars with other countries. Another excuse to start a war with china, war with Russia, who's next? Are people seriously buying this bullshit still? Who took over this site?
Deep state wants a war with China before 2025. Hence, the AF general saying to his men that he thinks there'll be war. That's not his place to make a declaration like that.
2025 apparently is the West's estimation when China would be too strong to fight. Not sure if that's weapons capability, mobilization, culmination of training, or all of the above.
I love how they are trying to rationalize it by implying the explosives only would have been used to destroy the balloon itself. The Chinese sent a potentially armed spy balloon over our country and our DOD is making excuses for them after letting it go across the entire country.
CNN: It's common knowledge that weather balloons carry self-destructing explosives. To suggest otherwise, would be racist.
Or climate change denier.
CNN: SamePicture.jpg
Or a Bigot !
White Supremecist !
Fact check: Do these types of balloons typically carry self-destructing explosives? TRUE.
(buried 9 paragraphs deep)
All Chinese spy balloons recovered on US soil contained self-destruction explosives. At the time or writing this article, we're only aware of one balloon recovered, but can confirm that 100% of balloons recovered have had explosives.
They often do. It's a small charge to drop the instrument package so that it can be recovered by ground crews. Not designed to destroy the valuable instruments, though.
I suspect in this case since obviously multiple balloons have been deployed the charges should also be designed to obscure the function of the communications and data collecting equipment since China is sending them (presumably without consent) over other sovereign nations. The CCP rhetoric over our discovery and downing of the one so far is highly suggestive.
My comment was in relation to actual weather balloons.
With the thing that was recently airborne over the US, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some sort of self-destruct mechanism to prevent identification of role and capability, or even recovery of equipment.
It's a bit like when Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U-2 he was flying was equipped with a variety of self-destruct mechanisms (as was he) to prevent hostile recovery of payload and sensors. Only it appears that none of them activated (or activated well enough to destroy the equipment). Not only was the shoot down a propaganda victory for the Soviets, the sensors and payload they recovered were a technical victory as well.
Or, more recently, when the EP-3 Aries was forced to land on Hainan island (2000 / 2001?). You can almost guarantee that the US crew spent every possible second destroying their equipment before landing. Perhaps even tossing hardware out of the aircraft.
Now, in that case, the aircraft suffered an almost catastrophic loss (the impact from the Chinese jet caused YUUUUUGE damage to the US airframe), so they might have been more prioritised with staying alive, than with the destruction of sensitive materiel.
So, while the Chinese lost a fighter and pilot, they gained something incredibly rare (even if damaged), and sending it home in pieces was just another part of the humiliation process.
This wasn’t a high tech U2 bomber. It was a balloon. All the data was relayed directly to the Chinese in real time. It was a one way trip. Should’ve been shot down the moment it entered American airspace or before.
Thank you, nice to hear from someone sane.
Wouldn't be the first time.
In 1945, a Japanese Balloon Bomb Killed Six Americans, Five of Them Children, in Oregon
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1945-japanese-balloon-bomb-killed-six-americansfive-them-children-oregon-180972259/
Thx for posting pede, interesting read.
Imagine still believing things like this from the media after the last 2 years.
Exactly. A bomb, basically. To be aimed and downed over potentially high value target(s).
I have read reports of other Chinese spy balloons. True or False, does anyone know?
I don't think there's any evidence that it was a "bomb" (sure didn't behave like one when it was shot down). But the Chinese are certainly not stupid enough to send a high-tech spy balloon over the US without ensuring that any equipment with intel value would self-destruct if the ballon came down under circumstances not fully controlled by the CCP.
Doesn't take a very big explosion to destroy small electronic devices thoroughly enough that they can't be reverse engineered and can't have their capabilities ascertained. It would be like blowing up a laptop. Most of the physical load of equipment would be relatively basic stuff that we wouldn't learn anything new from if we got hold of it intact; only a small portion would need to be protected from "capture".
So exactly what is your point? Nothing to worry about? I think not.
Probably it was nothing to worry about. Its transmission capability probably really was shut down early on, as "Pentagon sources" have said, and it's extremely unlikely that it posed any serious threat if it was brought down (by us or by the CCP) over the US. Not even close to the threat currently posed by the derailed train full of vinyl chloride in Ohio. I suspect its main value was as a distraction. Is it really a coincidence that this balloon floated into our airspace just as Dementia Joe's classified documents problem was ramping up?
We should never believe everything our government officials tell us, of course. But that includes the parade of current and former elected and military people who have been filling the airwaves for the past few days with a well-harmonized chorus of howls about how "dangerous", "irresponsible", "incompetent", etc it was for the Biden administration not to shoot the balloon down the second it entered US airspace, because it was certainly "transmitting highly sensitive information about our military facilities back to China the whole time". They sound a lot like the late 2020 chorus singing "the Hunter Biden laptop isn't really his and has all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign".
Ding ding ding! Let the ass coverage conga line commence
That balloon came by for the last ounce of dignity this nation had and carried it out in broad daylight for everyone to see a weakened beaten down nation that is ran by big government of wokies and faggots (redundant I know).
Imagine believing, let alone listening to, anything that anyone in the government says about anything. It's all lies, propaganda and deflection, at all times.
It is really disheartening to see so many people on here believing this story.
It’s very plausible though. I wondered why an effort wasn’t made to deflate slowly, then capture the apparatus intact. Then, I thought hey, it’s probably rigged to blow…
Now I know my theory was bullshit because the government said it wasn’t.
How do we know it was actually China's?
Why didn't they go get it and see what it was doing? Fucking retards.
They're making excuses for why they couldn't handle shooting a balloon. Left-wingers are amazing.
Because it wasn't China's - and/or they already knew what it was doing. If it was a MAGA promo hot air balloon, they would've retrieved it or blown it up ASAP. Imo, they knew what it was doing and they deflected until the mission was complete - then destroyed it.
As civilian balloons tend to do...
🤣
Was it from one of those 5x boosted tranny Rear Admirals?
Murder Wasps
Was thinking the same thing. People make claims for a chance at being relevant and it results in mass public confusion and misinformation.
Aren't they trained to intercept stuff like this? Saw a documentary on the military launching and retrieving giant "weather balloons."
Everything is a conspiracy theory now, so might've been bs - but who's to say that this balloon wasn't one of ours that lost altitude and became visible to the public?
A civilian weather balloon, carrying explosives. That's the official story?
And we let it fly across our country.
I even wondered if it was possible to have a nuclear warhead aboard it and that they could detonate it. Who knows what those crazy chinks are up to. This could be a test for something like this in the future.
Allegedly it was airliner size, so I imagine it could have a few of those on board.
Yes, destroy itself and create an EMP...
It potentially carried no explosives. It potential carried winning lottery tickets. It potentially carried a virus. They are good at fantasy.
I am going with it being Biden trying to get more documents to China
Unless there's something I'm missing, the current situation is "we don't know, but it's possible I guess?"
Lol. I almost posted on this the other day but didn’t. I think back to the old Mission Impossible tv series where it says this tape will self destruct in five seconds. China isn’t stupid. They are not going to freely hand over any technology or information gathered to us.
"What dastardly self-destruction mechanisms did it carry? EMP? Nuclear?"
"It carried a needle on a servo, Sir."
That's odd because China claimed it was a civilian balloon.
Potentially, so potentially means you don't know
Exactly.
They make up something scary to pacify you.
Yes, be AFRAID, and we need more money.
Oh cool. So not only did they spy across America, but they brought a bomb into our borders.
BOMB BEIJING NOW.
The only reason this is in the news is neocons want a war with China because Ukraine is too far gone.
i said this as soon as it was said to have been "shot down"
We have multiple angles of it being shot down.
The glitter (unless it's chemicals) that fill the area of the sky after the shoot down suggests powerful fragmentation.
Was that our jet or onboard explosives?
Saw this coming a mile away; they weren’t going to let that thing be captured, of course it would have self destruct capability.
Neutron bomb for self destruction
😂
What does potentially carried mean? Did it carry explosives or not?
It means we want to make the public freak out even more so that they will fully support the next military conflict with China.
Potentially = We make up a scary scenario
When you see a MSM (fake news) article with the word "potentially", it means that they want YOU to be scared of that "potential".
I still say it was a space station
Biden shill.
If you think China doesn't have sophisticated satellites you are just a fucking moron
Supposedly we have lasers now why not give one a good test
Or explosives and a carfentanyl payload.
Explode over city, everyone dies, quietly.
Yea its basically an EMP weapon system:
https://banned.video/watch?id=63e0614af246b125ed7c91e8
How many small drones could fit on that balloon aircraft. How much in Chinese money does it cost to make thousands of them. What countries have been interested in developing/pioneering/perfecting swarming technology recently.
The satellite was laughingly underpowered to do anything like deep ground penetration and probably helped to conceal its real mission, which is/was to release thousands of little drones into the U.S.A. to do information gathering.
I swore I read something a year or so ago that sounds similar ok i found it
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/05/31/china-mothership-drone-swarms/
Cool article but those drones would not fit under that balloon
There seems to be a lot of "speculation" regarding all things chinese in the air
Not Chinese. Our own govt is going to nuke an American city + they needed a scapegoat. We sold nuclear codes to China yrs ago. This is just a cover story. Setting up the shot. Now they can attack us + blame the ballon 🙄
Sure, I trust all of those who put us into endless wars with other countries. Another excuse to start a war with china, war with Russia, who's next? Are people seriously buying this bullshit still? Who took over this site?
bwhahaah this is fucking gold tier fear mongering.
Like a Probe Droid…
Who. The. Fuck. Cares.
Obviously...
Manufacturing consent.
Deep state wants a war with China before 2025. Hence, the AF general saying to his men that he thinks there'll be war. That's not his place to make a declaration like that.
2025 apparently is the West's estimation when China would be too strong to fight. Not sure if that's weapons capability, mobilization, culmination of training, or all of the above.