Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
A new “high-altitude airborne object” has been spotted and shot down over Canada’s Yukon territory, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday evening, as U.S. personnel continued efforts to recover the remnants of two other craft shot down over Alaska and South Carolina within the last week.
Trudeau said in a tweet that Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled to respond in the latest incident, with a “U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object.”
“I spoke with President Biden this afternoon,” Trudeau tweeted. “Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object.”
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) had said earlier in a statement that it had “positively identified” the latest object, but offered few additional details. The organization includes both U.S. and Canadian military officials, and protects the skies over North America.
The disclosure came as U.S. military officials said searches continued Saturday near the north Alaskan town of Deadhorse for an object shot down Friday just off the coast, and off the coast of South Carolina for a suspected Chinese surveillance airship that made a cross-country journey ending with a shoot-down on Feb. 4.
An F22 Fighter (Photo from The Guardian)
Note that the reports from main-line news sources make no mention of any unusual attributes regarding the object which was downed over Canada.
”Note that the reports from main-line news sources make no mention of any unusual attributes regarding the object.”
Thanks OJ - CNN isn’t the most reliable source. And I was “half-listening” to the on-air reporting late this anfternoon and may not have heard everything correctly.
Still early - eager to hear details about the 2 recent shoot-downs in / near Alaska & Canada when officially released.
Hey there @hank- yeah, me too, for sure. All of this is getting really interesting. I just checked a bunch of news sources, but no further details on Alaska & Canada.
Officials have used a particular car — a Volkswagen Beetle — to describe the rough size of the objects shot down Friday in Alaska and Saturday in Canada. But while they are similar in size, “they are slightly different in profile,” the official said.
The pilots over Canada had more time to observe the object compared to Friday’s encounter, leaving pilots to have various interpretations of what they were able to see. The object was shot down in a rugged and remote area, the official said.
“All of the objects are similar in certain ways and then dramatically different in certain ways. What we don’t yet understand is what sorts of technology are in there,” the official said. “Really capable technology can be very small and portable. So the size doesn’t tell us a whole lot.” The latest disclosure came as U.S. military officials said searches continued Saturday near the north Alaskan town of Deadhorse for the object shot down Friday, and off the coast of South Carolina for the suspected Chinese surveillance airship that made a cross-country journey.
“Arctic weather, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety,” U.S. military officials said of the object shot down over Alaska on Saturday. “Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice.”
“All of the objects are similar in certain ways and then dramatically different in certain ways. What we don’t yet understand is what sorts of technology are in there”
Yikes!
Most likely … Space debris, Unspent boosters, Weather balloons, Reflections …. It’s unlikely a drone would fly that high - but possibly.
Anybody else feel like guessing? I’m gonna watch SNL tonight. Maybe they’ve been able to uncover more details.
"The irony of confusing an alien spacecraft for a weather balloon would be amazing but not worth starting an interstellar conflict," the former congressman added.
In reading the above comments, I was struck by the suggestion that the "Sidewinder" missile which was used to bring down the object(s) is a "heat-seeking missile". Wondering what the source of heat might be on what were presumably balloons of some type, I wandered the internet a bit. It turns out that the Sidewinder comes in a variety of versions.
From "Air Force" (an official website of the United States government) we find "The AIM-9P-1 has an active optical target detector instead of the infrared influence fuse".
Additionally, the following information is from Wickipedia, and is very vague with respect to which particular Sidewinder version it refers to. However it does describe the operation of an optical aiming system which might be the system used by the AIM-9P-1:
The Sidewinder is not guided by the actual position recorded by the detector, but by the change in position since the last sighting. So if the target remained at 5 degrees left between two rotations of the mirror, the electronics would not output any signal to the control system. Consider a missile fired at right angles to its target; if the missile is flying at the same speed as the target, it should "lead" it by 45 degrees, flying to an impact point far in front of where the target was when it was fired. If the missile is traveling four times the speed of the target, it should follow an angle about 11 degrees in front. In either case, the missile should keep that angle all the way to interception, which means that the angle that the target makes against the detector is constant. It was this constant angle that the Sidewinder attempted to maintain. This "proportional pursuit" system is very easy to implement and offers high-performance lead calculation almost for free and can respond to changes in the target's flight path, which is much more efficient and makes the missile "lead" the target.
I didn’t listen to former Congressman Meijer. But I’ve checked and found him to be a good guy. He lost to a MAGA Republican, having been 1 of 2 Michigan Rs to vote for impeachment.
Not sure whether or not the “alien” comment was intended tongue-in -cheek. The concept of us shooting down a true “alien” spacecraft strikes me as an oxymoron. I believe any species able to make the trek across millions of light-years of space and survive / navigate through earth’s environment would not be at all susceptible to the best of our Earthling defenses.
Likely, an F22 would to them resemble something out of the Dinosaur Age.
Reporting from major outlets provided limited details with respect to the “object”. Having bits and pieces of information do not form a complete picture. Cylindrical shape of a car does not say much.
Signals received from the object as the aircraft pinged on it were not released. Certainly not any pictures. Perhaps it is best not to release it until more complete information is available. When they recovered the debris on the ground, the forensic result will tell us more.
Them aliens ain't much sophisticated if they can be defeated by a snake first tested at China Lake in 1953. (I looked this up because, when I was working at China Lake in the 80s, Sidewinder was a major brag right. I knew the weapon series was really old and, much to my surprise, discovered that it is still part of the arsenal, albeit in its current incarnation.) I do wonder, however, if the mystery about the last two UFOs is because they were nothing spectacular. 11 September 1953
I’m beginning to suspect Russia is doing some probing of our defenses (notwithstanding China’s recent balloon). The nearest foreign country to Alaska where some of these have first appeared is Russia - actually visible across water from some points (and excluding Canada of course).
@hank FAA briefly closes airspace over Lake Michigan for ‘defense activities’, Feb. 12. Hope no one had a must have flight in or out of TC airport, eh?
One might conclude more than normally scheduled 'air national guard' training has been put in place.
@hank FAA briefly closes airspace over Lake Michigan for ‘defense activities’, Feb. 12. Hope no one had a must have flight in or out of TC airport, eh?
One might conclude more than normally scheduled 'air national guard' training has been put in place.
Yep - I feel badly for those flying out of TVC today. 90% of those outbound flights connect in Chicago or Detroit. So had to ruin a few people’s days. BTW - While mostly regional jets, they’ve been bringing some larger 737s and A320s into play. Had the opportunity to ride a United A 319 up from O’Hare a few months ago late at night, first-class window seat at that. Doesn’t get any better.
@hank Here you go..........object neutralized over Upper Peninsula about to enter Lake Huron area...........so, near the Mackinac Bridge area, more or less.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if both Russia and China were jerking our defense chains just for the hell of it, and also maybe hoping to pick up a little info on our responses and defenses.
Interesting that no news coverage that I've seen goes into any detail about the latest incident, over Lake Huron.
So... this thing just suddenly materialized out of thin air? How did it get there? Which direction did it come from? Did it get there by overflying Canada? Or the US? Did NORAD have any idea that it was enroute?
Very odd that there's no info on any of that, and evidently no questions or comments (at least as of yet), from the usual sources.
@Old_Joe My link above is CNN. They just posted an update.....which is the usual process. Click the link again if you want to read the newest they have.
Whitmer said on Twitter that federal officials had been “tracking an object near [Michigan’s] airspace”. “I’m glad to report it has been swiftly, safely and securely taken down,” she said. The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, is understood to have been the same item that was picked up by radar over Montana on Saturday. At the point it was struck by an air-to-air missile launched by F-16 fighter jets, it had been flying across the Great Lakes region at 20,000ft, a height that could have posed a risk to civilian aircraft.
Well … Traveling easterly from Lake Michigan and across the state will carry you out into Lake Huron. Probably 150 miles or so from coast to coast. So pretty sure what they shot down over Huron was the same object they tracked across Lake Michigan a bit earlier in the day. Just guessing it’s the same one detected over Montana yesterday and believed to have come down across Canada.
Latest over-air news reports (including Bloomberg) are describing the one downed over Lake Huron as “octagonal shaped with several strings hanging from it”. Now … what kind of aeronautical engineer designs things to fly having 8 sides?!?
BTW - China now claims to be tracking a UFO in its air space and preparing to shoot it down. Just hope it ain’t one of our satellites. All this s*** is a real distraction to investing and making money. I mean folks are nervous, worried. Who’d sink money into China at the moment? Interestingly, gold isn’t bouncing (tonight) as one might expect in times of increased global tension.
They could be from North Korea and Iran. With solar panels the size of satellites, they can be launched anywhere. Certainly these are designed to be expendable and lot less than low orbit satellites.
Comments
- Pilot accounts differ. Some claim it interfered with their radar & instrumentation. Some dispute that,
- Moving very fast, cylindrical shape
- No discernible propulsion system
- Able to stop and hover in mid-air / change direction
- No markings
- Size of small car
- At 40,000 feet (about where newer passenger jets cruise)
- CNN News bulletin 4:30 PM: “NORAD now monitoring a high altitude unknown object.”
Updated February 11, 2023 at 5:51 p.m. EST
An F22 Fighter (Photo from The Guardian)
Note that the reports from main-line news sources make no mention of any unusual attributes regarding the object which was downed over Canada.
Thanks OJ - CNN isn’t the most reliable source. And I was “half-listening” to the on-air reporting late this anfternoon and may not have heard everything correctly.
Still early - eager to hear details about the 2 recent shoot-downs in / near Alaska & Canada when officially released.
Yikes!
Most likely … Space debris, Unspent boosters, Weather balloons, Reflections …. It’s unlikely a drone would fly that high - but possibly.
Anybody else feel like guessing? I’m gonna watch SNL tonight. Maybe they’ve been able to uncover more details.
Former Congressman Wonders if the U.S. Has Shot Down an Alien UFO
"The irony of confusing an alien spacecraft for a weather balloon would be amazing but not worth starting an interstellar conflict," the former congressman added.
From "Air Force" (an official website of the United States government) we find "The AIM-9P-1 has an active optical target detector instead of the infrared influence fuse".
Additionally, the following information is from Wickipedia, and is very vague with respect to which particular Sidewinder version it refers to. However it does describe the operation of an optical aiming system which might be the system used by the AIM-9P-1: Every day brings something new to learn.
This link should flip/move to the correct 35 second video. May need to click the play arrow and set volume 'ON'.
Not sure whether or not the “alien” comment was intended tongue-in -cheek. The concept of us shooting down a true “alien” spacecraft strikes me as an oxymoron. I believe any species able to make the trek across millions of light-years of space and survive / navigate through earth’s environment would not be at all susceptible to the best of our Earthling defenses.
Likely, an F22 would to them resemble something out of the Dinosaur Age.
Reporting from major outlets provided limited details with respect to the “object”. Having bits and pieces of information do not form a complete picture. Cylindrical shape of a car does not say much.
Signals received from the object as the aircraft pinged on it were not released. Certainly not any pictures. Perhaps it is best not to release it until more complete information is available. When they recovered the debris on the ground, the forensic result will tell us more.
Related Article
As the Beast says in Lord of the Flies, ”This has gone quite far enough!”
What next? Maybe a little green man knocking on the door?
11 September 1953
FAA briefly closes airspace over Lake Michigan for ‘defense activities’, Feb. 12. Hope no one had a must have flight in or out of TC airport, eh?
One might conclude more than normally scheduled 'air national guard' training has been put in place.
A third object was shot down over Canada Yukon Territory on Feb 11.
A fourth object was shot down over Lake Huron on Feb 12. That may explain the closing of airspace over the Great Lake area.
Here you go..........object neutralized over Upper Peninsula about to enter Lake Huron area...........so, near the Mackinac Bridge area, more or less.
So... this thing just suddenly materialized out of thin air? How did it get there? Which direction did it come from? Did it get there by overflying Canada? Or the US? Did NORAD have any idea that it was enroute?
Very odd that there's no info on any of that, and evidently no questions or comments (at least as of yet), from the usual sources.
https://theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/12/us-military-shoots-down-fourth-flying-object-over-north-american-airspace
Latest over-air news reports (including Bloomberg) are describing the one downed over Lake Huron as “octagonal shaped with several strings hanging from it”. Now … what kind of aeronautical engineer designs things to fly having 8 sides?!?
BTW - China now claims to be tracking a UFO in its air space and preparing to shoot it down. Just hope it ain’t one of our satellites. All this s*** is a real distraction to investing and making money. I mean folks are nervous, worried. Who’d sink money into China at the moment? Interestingly, gold isn’t bouncing (tonight) as one might expect in times of increased global tension.