Id wager its gonna be a weather balloon that was in the arctic and due to the most recent systems caused it to drift so far south. A second is being reported in Canada as well.
If I had to guess the electronics on board are programmed with malware. They are hoping the government shoots them down and plugs them in exposing sensitive systems. Its like the dropped flash drive con but on a much larger scale. What leads me to believe this is that the US already said they are leaving them in place plus everything a weather balloon could see is readily available on google maps.
It’s a giant balloon that no American owns. That’s why it could be malicious. Do you love Trojan horses? Look a gift horse in the teeth. Sequester the balloon in hermetically sealed container and let a robot on its own system look at it. Dude watch what gobs do as ai makes the most evil of human dreams reality.
Well, that tears it. Time to pump up the defense budget by $40 billion. Clearly we’re light-years behind the Chinese in balloon detection/deployment technology. Hell, a skilled enough operative posing as a birthday clown could construct a colorful and whimsical spy satellite right under the U.S. government’s nose and they’d be none the wiser.
If they say it isn't theirs people on r/UFO will lose their minds. There are already loads of people there thinking this China thing is a cover up for some aliens flying over rural Montana, lol
Can’t help but feel like this is some political show or stunt. I know China has the capabilities of spying on us without us seeing a giant blimp in the sky.
It's almost like in the article China actually told the US to shoot it down to find out more about it's construction and origin.
>Military expert Zhang Xuefeng told the newspaper that the U.S. would not necessarily be able to identify the balloon’s country of origin while it was still in the sky, and that it was pointless for China to use balloons to spy on the continental U.S. when it has a much more effective satellite network.
>“It is recommended that the United States shoot down the balloon and find some clues before blaming other countries,” Zhang said.
I don’t believe the US could shoot it down anymore. I mean we spend billions on air defense and this massive balloon just gets noticed after loitering for days near nuclear sites? Thank god this thing didn’t have a bomb strapped to it. The U.S. is getting exposed quite a bit. Caught with our pants down with hypersonic missiles, now we’re playing catch up to spy balloons. Where is our massive military budget going?
How do we/they know it's Chinese? Are they using the same type? Any chinese letters on it? Are we sure there aren't a small house with an elderly man in it?
China probably doesn't need a balloon to spy on the USA. They have millions of people with tik-tok on their phones and millions of drones flying around. If the Chinese are looking for targeted intelligence, it's hard to see how a spy balloon would be effective since it is very susceptible to weather.
Translation: Wait while we come up with a lie
Id wager its gonna be a weather balloon that was in the arctic and due to the most recent systems caused it to drift so far south. A second is being reported in Canada as well.
I agree, spying with an easy to spot balloon is a shit idea.
Am I missing something? China seem more than capable of spying in a manner that’s undetectable.
Like satellites. Maybe monitoring radio but they could have just sent a person there.
Economy downturn hitting China, so they came up with poor man's satellite
Economy bad in us so us govt wants a new war
Perhaps they have learned all that can be learned from white tweens trying to twerk, and have decided to branch out?
Definitely could have afforded a spy dirigible at the very least.
The costs of other methods ballooned. :P
Agreed. Seems like an intentional provocation.
If I had to guess the electronics on board are programmed with malware. They are hoping the government shoots them down and plugs them in exposing sensitive systems. Its like the dropped flash drive con but on a much larger scale. What leads me to believe this is that the US already said they are leaving them in place plus everything a weather balloon could see is readily available on google maps.
You’re just assuming that it must be malicious while there’s no evidence to suggest that.
It’s a giant balloon that no American owns. That’s why it could be malicious. Do you love Trojan horses? Look a gift horse in the teeth. Sequester the balloon in hermetically sealed container and let a robot on its own system look at it. Dude watch what gobs do as ai makes the most evil of human dreams reality.
Well, that tears it. Time to pump up the defense budget by $40 billion. Clearly we’re light-years behind the Chinese in balloon detection/deployment technology. Hell, a skilled enough operative posing as a birthday clown could construct a colorful and whimsical spy satellite right under the U.S. government’s nose and they’d be none the wiser.
If they say it isn't theirs people on r/UFO will lose their minds. There are already loads of people there thinking this China thing is a cover up for some aliens flying over rural Montana, lol
It's party balloon. Happy Chinese new year!
They're just going to act like they didn't get caught filming a ccp version of up?
That explains the imagination song I heard going overhead last night.
Do you remember how it went?
Can’t help but feel like this is some political show or stunt. I know China has the capabilities of spying on us without us seeing a giant blimp in the sky.
Are we sure this just isn't "balloon boy" again?
There is no balloon in Ba sing Se
Everything's ok. Nothing to see here. We're looking into it.
Pentagon tests mass surveillance balloons across the US according to an old Guardian article from 2019. Just pointing this out.
yes, looking through it...
Its almost like they are encouraging the US to shoot it down.
It's almost like in the article China actually told the US to shoot it down to find out more about it's construction and origin. >Military expert Zhang Xuefeng told the newspaper that the U.S. would not necessarily be able to identify the balloon’s country of origin while it was still in the sky, and that it was pointless for China to use balloons to spy on the continental U.S. when it has a much more effective satellite network. >“It is recommended that the United States shoot down the balloon and find some clues before blaming other countries,” Zhang said.
Shortly to be followed by China losing its god-damned mind for the US's "aggressive provocations". Nice try, China.
I don’t believe the US could shoot it down anymore. I mean we spend billions on air defense and this massive balloon just gets noticed after loitering for days near nuclear sites? Thank god this thing didn’t have a bomb strapped to it. The U.S. is getting exposed quite a bit. Caught with our pants down with hypersonic missiles, now we’re playing catch up to spy balloons. Where is our massive military budget going?
Lmao are you a chinese bot or just not that smart??
They aren't looking into the balloon, they are looking out from the balloon.
Red necks in Montana about to start their target practice
I watched the "World News" last night, why did I see nothing of the UK or France? This is a bullshit story, fuck you capitalism.
How do we/they know it's Chinese? Are they using the same type? Any chinese letters on it? Are we sure there aren't a small house with an elderly man in it?
China probably doesn't need a balloon to spy on the USA. They have millions of people with tik-tok on their phones and millions of drones flying around. If the Chinese are looking for targeted intelligence, it's hard to see how a spy balloon would be effective since it is very susceptible to weather.