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@Sven... exactly what I'm thinking also. Cheap and dirty. Also, have you noticed the reluctance of some government/military officials to call the recent smaller ones "balloons"? Now they are "objects". What the hell is that all about? How exactly does an "object" that isn't a balloon get here?
In order to have long flight path, these devices need a floating platform such as a helium ballon to ride the air stream. It seems that many of parts can be found in a hobby shop. I think the intent is to disrupt and harass the west. Both Russia and North Korea are closely located on top of the Gulf Stream.
For now the military is being careful so it does not trigger a panic to the public. That may be the exact thing our adversaries want us to do. Once they recover these devices, they will able to get to the bottom of it.
During WWII, Japanese government released many balloons to fly across the Pacific Ocean in order to cause wildfires on the west coast. It caused very little damage but it was kept quiet during the war so it does not trigger panic to the public.
Yes, now that you mention the Japanese "fire balloons" I remember reading about that. I was thinking maybe North Korea, but I wouldn't put it past Iran, Russia or China either. This whole thing is getting very interesting.
a busy thread, indeed. i've just seen reports of 8 shoot-downs in 4 days, and about 40 similar aircraft or whatever tracked, still aloft. Something is rotten in Denmark.
Starting to sound a little creepy now. From today’s Wall Street Journal - 2/13/23:
“The U.S. wasn’t tracking other objects as of Sunday night, said Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said at a news conference late Sunday. The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the object, which was shot down over Michigan but appeared to land in Canadian waters … Asked by a reporter if extraterrestrials might be involved, Gen. VanHerck responded that he would leave that to intelligence agencies to address but that ‘I haven’t ruled anything out.’ ”
@hank@Old_Joe et al Before darkness yesterday I could access the marina cam at Rogers City, MI. There were two local police vehicles and large city owned front loader that had cleared the snow to the boat launch area. This launch could only be used for small Coast Guard craft. From about 7pm last evening the marina cam became overloaded from access demand; and then not usable; but was locked into one position at the parking lot. Local reports indicate the city was working with the DOD for whatever potential. Today, the camera use is still not normal; as I use this cam for nice sunrise viewing across Lake Huron; and could not this morning. Map link below for those not familiar with the area. FWIW Rogers City, MI
Thanks @catch22. Keep us posted if you see any green (or pink) men wade ashore.
Great map. Brings back memories of many road trips over to Manatoulin Island, Canada, on the NE side of Lake Huron. Big car /passenger ferry runs back & forth from South Baymouth to Tobermory in the summer. Doesn’t look that far on the map, but close to 25 miles. Nice 2 hour cruise. Rogers City is a nice town too. Was home port to the Carl D. Bradley which sank in a November storm in northern Lake Michigan in the early 60s. I’ve fished a few times along that shoreline with a friend who had about a 17-20 ft boat we’d launch somewhere in that vicinity.
TWO missiles to down a balloon ! Was the first one a dud or pilot error ? I read somewhere that was close to a million dollar take-down ! In this case a few bullets should have done the job & a lot cheaper.
@Old_Joe F-16 (likely aircraft) and/or F-22 both have 20mm, 6 barrel Gatling gun, at 6,000 rounds per minute. Perhaps a soft touch mode, eh? I haven't checked, but the Lake Huron aircraft could be Michigan or Ohio Air National Guard; or other bases aircraft. Apache helicopter has a flight ceiling of 20,000 ft; so that aircraft was not a choice.
ADD: I recall from years ago when studying the SR-71 high altitude spy plane, that there was a brief engineering/Air Force folks chat about a machine gun option......HA ! was the reply. The plane would shoot itself as the airspeed generally exceeded the speed of the ammo rounds.....and were aren't designing a 'fighter plane'.
Comments
@Sven... exactly what I'm thinking also. Cheap and dirty. Also, have you noticed the reluctance of some government/military officials to call the recent smaller ones "balloons"? Now they are "objects". What the hell is that all about? How exactly does an "object" that isn't a balloon get here?
For now the military is being careful so it does not trigger a panic to the public. That may be the exact thing our adversaries want us to do. Once they recover these devices, they will able to get to the bottom of it.
During WWII, Japanese government released many balloons to fly across the Pacific Ocean in order to cause wildfires on the west coast. It caused very little damage but it was kept quiet during the war so it does not trigger panic to the public.
“The U.S. wasn’t tracking other objects as of Sunday night, said Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said at a news conference late Sunday. The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for the object, which was shot down over Michigan but appeared to land in Canadian waters … Asked by a reporter if extraterrestrials might be involved, Gen. VanHerck responded that he would leave that to intelligence agencies to address but that ‘I haven’t ruled anything out.’ ”
Before darkness yesterday I could access the marina cam at Rogers City, MI. There were two local police vehicles and large city owned front loader that had cleared the snow to the boat launch area. This launch could only be used for small Coast Guard craft. From about 7pm last evening the marina cam became overloaded from access demand; and then not usable; but was locked into one position at the parking lot. Local reports indicate the city was working with the DOD for whatever potential. Today, the camera use is still not normal; as I use this cam for nice sunrise viewing across Lake Huron; and could not this morning. Map link below for those not familiar with the area. FWIW
Rogers City, MI
Great map. Brings back memories of many road trips over to Manatoulin Island, Canada, on the NE side of Lake Huron. Big car /passenger ferry runs back & forth from South Baymouth to Tobermory in the summer. Doesn’t look that far on the map, but close to 25 miles. Nice 2 hour cruise. Rogers City is a nice town too. Was home port to the Carl D. Bradley which sank in a November storm in northern Lake Michigan in the early 60s. I’ve fished a few times along that shoreline with a friend who had about a 17-20 ft boat we’d launch somewhere in that vicinity.
I wonder if modern fighter aircraft even have guns anymore.
F-16 (likely aircraft) and/or F-22 both have 20mm, 6 barrel Gatling gun, at 6,000 rounds per minute. Perhaps a soft touch mode, eh?
I haven't checked, but the Lake Huron aircraft could be Michigan or Ohio Air National Guard; or other bases aircraft.
Apache helicopter has a flight ceiling of 20,000 ft; so that aircraft was not a choice.
ADD: I recall from years ago when studying the SR-71 high altitude spy plane, that there was a brief engineering/Air Force folks chat about a machine gun option......HA ! was the reply. The plane would shoot itself as the airspeed generally exceeded the speed of the ammo rounds.....and were aren't designing a 'fighter plane'.
Biden Administration thinks 3 objects shot down likely tied to commercial or research activity and benign.
Story
(I’ve deleted a half-baked theory of mine that perhaps these were spy vehicles deployed from satellites.)