Suspected Chinese spy balloon found over northern U.S.

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Fri Feb 3, 2023, 05:45 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: NBC News

The U.S. military has been monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern U.S. for the past few days, and military and defense leaders have discussed shooting it out of the sky, according to two U.S. officials and a senior defense official.

"The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now," Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told NBC News. "We continue to track and monitor it closely."

"Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information," Ryder said.The high-altitude balloon was spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday. It flew over the Aleutian Islands, through Canada, and into Montana. A senior defense official said the balloon is still over the U.S. but declined to say where it is now.

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of senior military and defense leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck, and other combatant commanders. Austin was traveling in the Philippines at the time.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/suspected-chinese-spy-balloon-found-northern-us-military-installations-rcna68879

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UPDATE

(now you will have all kinds of people out there looking for it to try to shoot it down with their AR-15 "style" weapons)

Article update.

Original article -

The government has been monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been hovering over the northern U.S. for the past few days, and they have discussed shooting it out of the sky, according to two U.S. officials and a senior defense official.

"The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now," Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told NBC News. "We continue to track and monitor it closely."

"Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information," Ryder said. The high-altitude balloon was spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday. It flew from the Aleutian Islands, through Canada, and into Montana. A senior defense official said the balloon is still over the U.S. but declined to say where it is now.

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of senior military and defense leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander Gen. Van Herck, and other combatant commanders. Austin was traveling in the Philippines at the time.

[IronLionZion]

1. I would not want to be riding in a hot air balloon with idiots shooting at it

thinking it's a Chinese spy balloon.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Exactly

I can you imagine the yahoos shooting up in the air at anything that doesn't look like a "hot air balloon" like at all the weather balloons that get released multiple times a day around the country.



Those things have sondes that they carry that are measuring temp/pressure/humidity/wind speed, etc. at different altitudes and send that data back to a ground receiver to be processed, and ingested by weather model software.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. i sang that song in an assembly in grade school. hem

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Many of us did

Their songs were pretty popular (including "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" ).

I have this down in the basement in a crate -



(I think it was one that my dad got with that "Columbia House Record of the Month Club" thing )

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. Classic! Keep it. Lps are coming back (I hear)

[BumRushDaShow]

17. I have a big crate of them (used to work at the radio station at my college)

I had heard that this past year, LPs outsold CDs, so they are becoming a "thing" again. A new generation discovering "analog".

It was pretty eye-opening but perhaps not unexpected when I discovered one of my young nephews and a grand-nephew had never seen a 45 before. They looked at me like I had lost my mind and then went back to whatever they were playing on their Nintendo Switches.

[C0RI0LANUS]

3. Thank you for the appropriate video for your Post.

I respond with an equally appropriate video.

(PS: I was lucky enough to see the 5th D live).

[BumRushDaShow]

8. LOL

DU has some submariners who can tell some stories.

[C0RI0LANUS]

11. Hey, it's you!

My boss was an ex-Submariner (no, not Pres Carter). And you're right about their great tales of the sea.

I loved the way "1941" mimics the opening of "Jaws," then ends
with "Hollywood!!! Hollywood!!!"

Damned fools on the West Coast will be out firing their rifles into the air any time soon, 'cause Fox News says China is the Enemy (not Putin).

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. For years I suspected that the Roswell UFO

was a Soviet spy balloon. The remains were from a balloon, but there was a lot of mis-direction and secrecy.

It turned out that I was not too far from the truth - it was probably an experimental U.S. spy balloon.

[oldsoftie]

18. If that was actually true it wouldnt have been kept secret for 40+ years.

And when they finally DID give us a story they said it was to test parachutes with dummies (the aliens)
Too many people saw too much for that to have been a simple ballon.

[ThoughtCriminal]

34. Actually no.

There was quite a bit about the program that was highly classified for that duration.

[Polybius]

50. It was not worth 50 years of classification though

It was aliens. Just kidding, but it certainly wasn't what the government said it was.

[ThoughtCriminal]

52. Correct - it was not what the Air Force claimed at the time

When the government said that it was a weather balloon, they were covering for what it really was - a spy balloon designed to detect Soviet nuclear testing. That was the secret they kept for 40 years. Our methods for monitoring the Soviet nuclear program was not something the U.S. government was going to admit to until the Cold War was almost over.

My theory prior to that de-classification was that it was a Soviet spy balloon.

But for many people, no explanation that does not involve alien spacecraft will ever be accepted.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/in-1947-high-altitude-balloon-crash-landed-roswell-aliens-never-left-180963917/

[Polybius]

53. Personally, I find both of those explanations ridiculous

Of course, I'm not saying it was aliens though. I guess the President (and former Presidents) know, if they checked.

[VGNonly]

6. Japanese fire balloons

[link:

|

[machoneman]

9. We are stupid if we don't shoot it down! Joe, tell the Air Force to just do it, please!

[dalton99a]

14. Should have shot it down when it crossed our airspace

[oldsoftie]

21. exactly. the excuse sucks too. "scared of debris falling on populated areas"

[jaxexpat]

41. They're probably afraid it'll be found and claimed by some whacko militia.

Then it would, naturally, become an competence problem for Biden.

[Evolve Dammit]

28. Yep.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

22. Interesting USA top brass in Philippines....9 new bases to attack China with. Add to the dozens.

America is alarmed over a high altitude balloon?

[EX500rider]

27. More like 9 new bases to defend our allies with.

And more like four additional military bases in the Philippines - a key bit of real estate which would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

56. American allies...dozens of foreign countries needing protecting by the American taxpayer!

Pay up!

[EX500rider]

60. It's allies not a racket

Although that is the same way Trump wanted to treat it.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

61. It's a racket with the allies in on it...militaries like American cash! Takes more than one to tango!

[EX500rider]

62. I doubt the Philippines considers a mutual defense treaty with the US a racket

[Bayard]

10. Ok, someone has to post it

[XorXor]

12. Launch our own high altitude weather balloon to spy on their spy balloon

Or even better, mount lasers on dolphins and then strap the laser dolphins to some high altitude weather balloons so it can fly to the Chinese balloon to shoot it down. I was going suggest sharks with lasers, but I realized how ridiculous that would be due the fact the shark would need some sort environmental systems so it could survive outside the ocean.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. "I was going suggest sharks with lasers, but I realized how ridiculous that would be"

Not 20,000 years from now!!!

[XorXor]

35. hahaha wtf is that?

I love how insanely ridiculous that is. Gotta say it's impressive they managed to find a way to keep escalating from the original Sharknado.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. That was supposed to be their final one

"Sharknado 6: It's About Time".

They pulled out all the stops to go OTT. They wanted to "go back in time" to stop the first "sharknado" that formed and ended up going from time period to time period all the way through to thousands of years in the future.

Whole pile of guest stars in it.

[wnylib]

29. Why not try Jewish space lasers?

[dalton99a]

13. Just shoot the damn thing down.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

19. Shoot first, ask questions later! No. Happened before, no shooting!

(NewsNation) — U.S. defense officials are monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon hovering over the United States.

“The balloon is over the continental United States right now. The U.S. government, including (the North American Aerospace Defense Command), continues to monitor it closely. The balloon is currently traveling well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.

“Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years. Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”

He said similar balloon activity has been seen in the past several years. He added that the U.S. took steps to ensure it did not collect sensitive information.

…….

NBC forget to add these comments to the antiChina propaganda now flowing freely in the media?

[oldsoftie]

23. "AntiChina propaganda"? Please. There's enough against china without using propaganda

Communists bent on taking over Asia, controlling supplies across the world, threatening war with Taiwan constantly, treating their citizens like cattle.
We need to take ALL major mfg OUT of China

[Aussie105]

25. "We need to take ALL major mfg OUT of China" Really?

Global recession, here we come!

Careful what you wish for.

[oldsoftie]

36. PLENTY of other countries would love the business. No recession at all.

I've noticed more of my clothes being made in Philippines & Vietnam. I emailed the companies & thanked them for removing their mfg from China. 2 of them actually responded.
Anything related to security or infrastructure needs to come OUT of china. They simply take our money and use it against us.
You think its fine that 95% of our antibiotics are made in CHINA? Thats OK with you?

[NullTuples]

40. Right? Who cares if millions of human beings are being exploited!

Or did you think they all make a good living wage sewing your shirts and soldering the volume control on your novelty speaker?

[Alexander Of Assyria]

58. Some folks really don't go through the logic tree before hitting the Twitter opinion button!

What a wonderful device!

[catsudon]

45. it's funny how i can casually browse chinese forums and find propaganda

from regular chinese people who're brain washed.

Comment sections screenshots. Mandarin translated to English. Antisemitism.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

57. Turns out...was weather balloon! Again! Think Pentagon doesn't know that??

[oldsoftie]

66. OMG you actually BELIEVE its a weather balloon? You've MUST be joking.

If it WAS a weather balloon they would have notified us that it was coming long ago; just like they do when a satellite is going to fall from space.
There's no way you can be that naïve.

[paleotn]

16. During the Cold War....

it would have been shot down from the get go. I don't understand the discussion. Shoot the fucker down.

[wnylib]

32. I wonder if it's possible for us to learn

more about China and their systems by observing it than by shooting it down. If it posed any serious threat, I have no doubt that it would be shot down.

[Aussie105]

24. A spy balloon?

How primitive!
Easily detected, easily brought down.

China, lift your game!
Use spy satellites just like a lot of other countries do.
How many spy satellites does the US have? Where are they pointing right now?

HINT: If you live in a country currently having warm weather, DON'T sunbake in the nude!

[EX500rider]

26. There are 123 military satellites run by the United States that orbit the Earth nt

[former9thward]

31. If it is "easily brought down" why hasn't it been?

As the article points out China does have spy satellites. There must be a reason they decided to use a balloon right now.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

49. I smell a big fat commie rat!

We can not allow a spy balloon gap!

[Captain Zero]

54. Won't the upcoming weather take it down?

There A huge weather front moving across northern US. IF It gets caught up in that it's probably coming down. Imho

[purr-rat beauty]

30. I'm sure the Chinese collect more intelligence in 20 minutes...

....through cyber snooping than this balloon collects in 1 day.

[NullTuples]

39. A balloon, though, can do things like...

- listen in on potentially thousands of cell voice conversations & data connections at once.
- same for wifi
- and police, etc.
- potentially pick up signals from local & state government microwave links, terrestrial or satellite (I recently found out one of our local cities actively uses a terrestrial microwave link instead of say VPN over an ISP provided internet connection. Not sure what for though, but many gov't buildings have them)
- commercial terrestrial & satellite links

[republianmushroom]

33. Do it

[NullTuples]

38. To be fair, Google floated spy balloons over the USA for years in the 'teens.

Last edited Fri Feb 3, 2023, 12:08 AM - Edit history (1)

Go ahead; tell me that's different because the corporation holds some sort of loyalty to our nation...

(for details google Loon LLC, an Alphabet (Google) subsidiary. They were ostensibly testing balloons as relays for providing Internet as an alternative to say, Starlink which uses satellites.)

[DinahMoeHum]

42. Here's a suggestion. . .Fuck on candid camera

Link to tweet

[jgmiller]

43. My first reaction was why didn't they shoot it down

but then I thought it about it a little longer and realized they probably thought it was more useful to watch it. It's not like their satellites can't spy on us at will like ours do to them so maybe they can learn something. Plus there are points to be earned by getting people worked up over it.

[keithbvadu2]

44. Could they grab it with a Fulton surface-to-air recovery system/operation skyhook?

Could they grab it with a Fulton surface-to-air recovery system/operation skyhook?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system

Then again, could it be armed with an explosive self-destruct system?

[tonekat]

47. Or full of viruses.

Dispersion via ballistic destruction of the envelope.

[tonekat]

46. I think it's over Kansas now

There's an E-3 over Kansas with a few tankers nearby, it's probably going to follow it until it leaves CONUS. Also, the jet stream vortex thats bringing the cold to Texas would also take that balloon from MT to KS.

[Marcuse]

48. Nt

[eppur_se_muova]

51. Let's note that it says *suspected* Chinese spy balloon, implying that ID is NOT CERTAIN.

And people here want to shoot first and ask questions later ?

High-altitude balloons are launched for a number of scientific research purposes, as training exercises for college engineering majors, and even by amateur hobbyists. There are relatively few restrictions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_balloon

[BumRushDaShow]

55. An interesting update that I heard early this morning and it has apparently been "confirmed"

was that apparently airline passengers first spotted it (the CBS report indicated the balloon was traveling at approx. 56,000 ft altitude), so if they saw it, the pilots probably did as well that might have triggered the pilot reports to the ATCs who then involved the military in both Canada and the U.S.

Then there is this all of the media sources are now showing -

Apparently Billngs had a ground stop due to it. A Spokane, WA TV station had this (since jets were scrambled from there) -

[oldsoftie]

67. If that was the case they would have let us know it was coming.

Its not like its moving at the speed of sound.

[Voltaire2]

59. lol 'spy balloon'.

Wake up people. You are being played.

[Kennah]

63. Launch the Zeppelins

[twodogsbarking]

64. Chinese using carrier pigeons to send messages. Wingmail.

[2live is 2fly]

65. Where is The Hekawi Tribe from F-Troop? "IT IS BALOON!" Didn't read all the comments maybe smone

already covered Chief Wild Eagle & his Hekawis.