US Air Force plane shot down Chinese balloon

93
US Air Force plane shot down Chinese balloon

The information that the American command received permission from the political authorities of the United States to eliminate the Chinese balloon, the appearance of which over the States caused a serious stir in Washington, is being confirmed. Recall that Beijing recognized the ownership of the air facility of China, but noted that it had nothing to do with intelligence activities. In the Chinese version, it is a weather balloon that was "blown away by the wind in an unknown direction." At the same time, another Chinese balloon “gone with the wind” was found this morning flying south of the United States - first over Costa Rica, then over Venezuela.

Videos have appeared on the network confirming that the US military still shot down a Chinese balloon. A combat aircraft was used to destroy it. It is suggested that it could be the fifth generation F-22 fighter, the trace of the flight of which was recorded by video cameras.



The balloon was shot down over the sea - off the coast of South Carolina. This may indicate that the US Air Force was waiting for the moment when the Chinese probe would not be over land, since Washington had previously stated literally the following:

When the balloon is destroyed, there may be risks for people on the ground.




In one video, ground-based footage of the plane's flight expresses great delight at the explosion that accompanied the destruction of a Chinese facility in US airspace.


Thus, the theory that the United States did not have the means to destroy an object flying at an altitude of more than 20 km is actually refuted.
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    1. +4
      4 February 2023 23: 14
      No guys. It was not a balloon, but the famous Chinese rubber bomb. I kept waiting for her to jump. Moreover, the staff members themselves confirmed this - "When the balloon is destroyed, there may be risks for people on the ground."
      1. +1
        5 February 2023 09: 53
        But in general, it’s worth taking a closer look at whether the Chinese “balloon” was really shot down in the “airspace” of the United States? .. As the media or the Pentagon claim ...

        Or was he already in international airspace? .. Where he already had absolutely all the rights to stay indefinitely. And where to "shoot down" him, as they say - "in plain text", no country has the right, no matter what "mission" he performs at the same time ...

        Or maybe just arrange some kind of "incident" for "technical reasons" ...
        1. +1
          6 February 2023 04: 35
          1. Shot down over the sea. But they were watching from the ground. So it's close to the coast. So - over the territorial waters. So - in your airspace.

          2. They were specially waiting to fly to the sea. Statements about safety for the population are an excuse. Most likely they were waiting to get a formal reason to refuse to return the wreckage to China. Like "Sorry, he drowned. We won't let your divers work. These are our territorial waters, and we don't want to let you in. And we won't get you ourselves. We're not interested, since you say that this is a simple and harmless weather balloon."

          And they themselves will quietly pick up the wreckage ...
          1. +1
            6 February 2023 13: 27
            But this, as they say, is "not yet a fact" ...

            Territorial waters, it's just a 12 mile zone. Those. a fairly narrow "strip" along the coast ...

            And the "balloon" was at an altitude of 20 km. Moreover, at sea, off the coast, where the turbulence of air masses is quite significant ...

            The "sky" was "clear", so "observing" the balloon from the ground (if you mean the layman shooting) was not at all difficult ...

            It can be assumed that they opened fire on the "cylinder" from their own airspace. But, the fact that, at the same time, he was still in the airspace, within a 12-mile zone, the Chinese comrades should have checked ... And more carefully ...
      2. +1
        5 February 2023 10: 16
        Well, and you were all worried about the American Aerospace Forces ... Grandfather ordered and that's it ... shot down.)
        1. 0
          5 February 2023 12: 28
          Yes, how could they not tell how they pursued the object at maximum speed, dodging enemy missiles from the side of the object, how heroically, risking their lives, the pilots, wounded in any part of the body, still plunged the enemy into an okiya! .. They love to brag ! Although, of course, it is strange that the probe turned out to be not "as always" Russian!..
    2. 0
      4 February 2023 23: 14
      So how high was he flying? They say he was already considered in space, that is, above 50 km, then it’s not clear from what fig he was shot down. Or is it already possible to freely shoot down alien spacecraft after such a precedent?
      1. +5
        4 February 2023 23: 16
        balloons do not fly above 21 km, this is a record
        1. +3
          4 February 2023 23: 32
          Quote from Johnson Smithson
          balloons do not fly above 21 km, this is a record

          It was to the Americans from fear, it seemed that the ball was huge with a portrait of Ma Zedong and at an altitude of as much as 50 km.
        2. +15
          5 February 2023 00: 14
          The most recent pilot to reach a record height in a balloon in October 2014 was Alan Eustace, an employee of the American search corporation. He left the aircraft with a parachute at an altitude of 41,4 km. The unmanned probe record belongs to the Japanese space agency JAXA. The balloon reached the mark of 53 km in 2002.
          1. 0
            5 February 2023 12: 32
            Well, these are special tasks! And here is the usual ordinary stray geosonde! What are the records here?
      2. +7
        4 February 2023 23: 53
        Who said that above 50 kilometers? The same nerd who claimed that the Americans did not have the means to bring him down? Where is the military site going?
        1. +4
          5 February 2023 00: 18
          For example, I did not know how high a balloon could rise. He said at an altitude of 100 km, and I hung my ears. And at an altitude of 100 km there is nothing to shoot him down request
          It turned out not a hundred kilometers. But they shot him for more than one hour. Couldn't knock down laughing
          1. -6
            5 February 2023 03: 16
            Quote: igorbrsv
            But they shot him for more than one hour. Couldn't knock down

            Pindo-stantsy full of fools. After all, they knew perfectly well that the missiles would not capture this target and could not bring it down, then why did they try? The whole world was disgraced by such actions and showed all their worthlessness. Also reputational loss of air defense. Well, stupid...
        2. +1
          5 February 2023 09: 01
          Who said that above 50 kilometers? The same nerd who claimed that the Americans did not have the means to bring him down? Where is the military site going?

          Disinformation of the enemy is an integral part of the art of war.
      3. +4
        5 February 2023 01: 15
        Quote: Pavel_Sveshnikov
        So how high was he flying?

        According to radio station 1010WINS, shot down at an altitude of over 60000 feet, i.e. about 20km.
        1. +2
          5 February 2023 06: 24
          Quote: Nagan
          about 20km.

          On the morning of last day, the height was recorded at 18,5 km. , but he periodically changed the height catching the necessary wind flows. The target is difficult to shoot down, apparently all this time they were preparing and preparing materiel for a successful defeat. But they've been shot down.
          In the 50s - 60s, our aviation also regularly tried to shoot down such balloons, and it was not always possible.
      4. PN
        +3
        5 February 2023 06: 51
        The border of the state passes at an altitude of 100 km.
    3. +4
      4 February 2023 23: 16
      some kind of circus ... So much noise because of some kind of balloon)
      1. +11
        4 February 2023 23: 24
        haha "balloon" that checks the reaction of air defense and the US itself to an invasion of airspace - well, something like that, Powers tried it with us.
        1. +18
          5 February 2023 01: 53
          Quote: ser580
          haha "balloon" that checks the reaction of air defense and the US itself to an invasion of airspace - well, something like that, Powers tried it with us.

          So at least someone remembered about Powers.
          And for some reason, the second day I remember M. Rust.

          For thirty-odd years they have been arguing about whether it was "just an air hooligan" or whether it was flying with a specific purpose.
          Now they will argue for another thirty years - this "ball" was accidentally blown by the wind, or it did not just fly over Alaska, chock-full of American bases and Montana, where mine intercontinental missile launchers are located.

          It was said a lot that Rust revealed the inefficiency and sluggishness of the Soviet air defense. We remember how they mocked... Now it's our turn.
          And in the United States now the Minister of Defense and the commander of air defense will be removed?
          And, of course, everyone who at a conscious age witnessed that flight of Rust heard how the state of Soviet air defense was linked with the subsequent events of 91. That this is a small link in the general chain of events that led to the catastrophe of the country.
          What can we expect from the USA? Is this a "call" for them?

          And further.
          Touches the American "it was impossible to shoot down so that the wreckage would not damage the buildings on the ground."
          Do Americans think that the whole world is learning geography the same way they are? ABM in Poland against Iran? Now they are trying to confuse Alaska, Canada or Montana with Austria or Germany in terms of population density?
          I have not been to Alaska, but I have been in our taiga, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Where the "village is not far" is 170 kilometers along the "winter road". Was in Canada and the USA (but not in Montana). I have been to Austria and Germany. I can compare.
          Let their dropouts be told that all this way
          there was no section of 100 by 100 kilometers where this bubble would fall so that the Americans themselves would still look for it. American housewives and "office plankton" will believe.
          We, brought up by Soviet geography textbooks, do not need to talk about this.
      2. +2
        4 February 2023 23: 27
        Quote from Artur Homoastricus
        some kind of circus ... So much noise because of some kind of balloon)

        These are little Chinese pranks, not a single holiday in China is complete without balloons. Let the Yankees chirp a little, they will sleep better.
      3. +4
        4 February 2023 23: 32
        some kind of circus...

        a circus, not a circus, but I had to shoot down - I really want to see what the Chinese had there))
        1. +4
          5 February 2023 01: 59
          Quote from ivan1979nkl
          some kind of circus...

          a circus, not a circus, but I had to shoot down - I really want to see what the Chinese had there))

      4. 0
        5 February 2023 04: 56
        In the 70s, the United States launched 10 such balloons towards the USSR. From reconnaissance equipment, with various anti-Soviet literature. Which was reset either on a timer or on command from the ground. The program turned out to be a failure, most of the balloons flew away, didn’t fly away, or were dropped over the taiga, or even flew into the ocean. But some part still visited the territory of the USSR.
        According to the stories, it was difficult to bring down. No rockets, just guns. The main difficulty the pilot saw in the sight was the huge carcass of the ball, in fact it turned out that the decent gun simply did not finish the range. B \ c was shot in vain. It was the same with China. Scout planes calmly flew in, there were thousands of such balls. Where did the thousand one hundred and first Chinese warning come from. At the UN and at the diplomatic level, the Americans were taken out for overflights of aircraft and for such warning balloons. And suddenly such nonsense appeared over the USA. And not alone. There were two balls. Information about the downed first appeared on February 3-4. Shot down over Montana.

        https://ok.ru/video/4368794913408
    4. +5
      4 February 2023 23: 17
      "... the theory that the United States did not have the means to destroy an object flying at an altitude of more than 20 km is actually refuted."
      Of course, there were and are funds. The only question is the cost, and the mattress makers know how to count money ... Despite this, we had to spend money, since the political damage had already exceeded all possible losses.
      1. +5
        4 February 2023 23: 21
        What to invent? They didn’t want to shoot down over their territory and that’s it. Few people would fall. They waited until it flies over the sea, cleared the water area and shot it down. That's the whole story.
        1. +1
          4 February 2023 23: 33
          Quote from cold wind
          What to invent? They didn’t want to shoot down over their territory and that’s it. Few people would fall. They waited until it flies over the sea, cleared the water area and shot it down. That's the whole story.

          Well, that's it: now the microfilm will be removed, and the Chinese will be left with a nose! By the way, did the second rocket not fly to the shore?
          1. +8
            5 February 2023 00: 49
            Quote: Motorist
            Well, that's it: now the microfilm will be removed
            What microfilm? The 21st century is in the yard: everything was thrown off via satellite a long time ago.
            1. 0
              5 February 2023 13: 57
              Quote: bk0010
              Quote: Motorist
              Well, that's it: now the microfilm will be removed
              What microfilm? The 21st century is in the yard: everything was thrown off via satellite a long time ago.

              How did I write? But in the USA, apparently, they decided that there was a film. Couldn't a hypothetical dog house, which would have a very low probability of being hit by a balloon, be more important than national security?
              1. +1
                5 February 2023 18: 22
                Quote: Motorist
                Couldn't a hypothetical dog house, which would have a very low probability of being hit by a balloon, be more important than national security?
                Such nonsense (from my point of view) could only be started if they assumed that RITEG was on board, and they were afraid of radiation contamination of the area. But, from my point of view, RITEG on an airship is a clear overkill.
                1. 0
                  5 February 2023 19: 50
                  Quote: bk0010
                  Such nonsense (from my point of view) could only be started if they assumed that on board RITEG

                  I'm not a specialist, but RITEG, I think, would be visible in some kind of radio telescope. I think that there was no command to shoot down, because they were simply not ready for this (airship) mentally. Then, when they figured out that they had gone astray, they came up with a version with the safety of objects on the ground.

                  PS: Somehow the bell disappeared for me - I don't see the answers.
                  1. +1
                    5 February 2023 23: 11
                    Quote: Motorist
                    PS: Somehow the bell disappeared for me - I don't see the answers.
                    This is apparently the case for everyone. Disappeared after an attack on the site, probably removed due to a vulnerability.
          2. +1
            5 February 2023 04: 44
            Few people would fall. They waited until it flies over the sea, cleared the water area and shot it down.

            That is, they took the evidence and see what was there and simply drowned it. As they say, ends in the water.
        2. +1
          5 February 2023 01: 27
          Quote from cold wind
          Few people would fall. They waited until it flies over the sea, cleared the water area and shot it down.

          Looks quite plausible. Moreover, the favorite hobby of Americans is to judge who gets paid for money at the slightest pretext. And it’s a sacred thing to judge the Pentagon, because it has a lot of money, and the nut from the downed USAF balloon, which stuffed a bump on the bald spots of some layman, is no reason.
          That's just hard to believe Joe Biden. Any of his predecessors would have ordered to shoot down as soon as they discovered. And senile Joe, and especially his son Hunter, are suspected that their private business ties with China are not just business, but providing the Chinese with access to the capabilities of the US authorities. So already yesterday, in the comments on Fox News, people wrote that they would not shoot down until Joe got the go-ahead from Beijing.
        3. +2
          5 February 2023 02: 06
          Quote from cold wind
          They didn’t want to shoot down over their territory and that’s it. Few people would fall. They waited until it flies over the sea, cleared the water area and shot it down. That's the whole story.

          Did you study geography from American textbooks? And missile defense in Poland against Iran? And the US troops in Afghanistan provided US national security?

          I will not repeat myself - I said everything above about the "danger to ground facilities." The second part of my comment.
        4. -1
          5 February 2023 11: 04
          Quote from cold wind
          Waited for it to fly over the sea
          In fact, this balloon flew in from the direction of Alaska and hung there for two days - and there are fewer people in Alaska than in a twelve-mile zone near South Carolina.
          That is, at first the American air defense missed this ball, then they thought how to shoot it down, and most importantly, how to explain that they had not shot it down earlier. They gave birth in a week - now all the heroes are there, from the president to the fighter pilot.
      2. +2
        5 February 2023 08: 05
        and mattresses know how to count money

        Chinese connection
        America used a $400 rocket fired from a $000 fighter jet to shoot down a weather balloon

        For the Guinness Book of Records:
        The F-22 is now the only combat aircraft in the world that only a weather balloon could officially shoot down. This is the only object shot down by the F-22 in the air in its entire flight history (since 1997, that is). Real wins for real technology...
      3. 0
        6 February 2023 06: 52
        The price of a rocket on the scale of the country is negligible. The main dilemma was: to shoot down or not to shoot down.
        Do not shoot down - a demonstration of the weakness of air defense, which "even a balloon cannot shoot down"
        Shoot down - the aggressors destroy civilian balloons.
        It turned out that Biden ran into both pitchforks. And demonstrated the weakness of air defense, and become the aggressor
    5. +2
      4 February 2023 23: 18
      So you can also throw a bomb from a balloon, an unknown probe, like a stream, unknown people rushed ...
    6. +2
      4 February 2023 23: 20
      If the plane means dropped low. in the area of ​​20 km.
    7. +2
      4 February 2023 23: 22
      At the same time, another “gone with the wind” Chinese balloon was found flying south of the United States this morning.
      Flying over the United States, the probe swore obscene language in Russian, sending the State Department to their mother.
      He cried and laughed
      That bristled like a hedgehog -
      He mocked us ...
      Well, crazy - what can you take!

      Well, the Chinese are great, the commotion happened to the United States, notable and there is nothing to get to the bottom of - "weather probe".
      Send more guys such "bubbles".
      1. +4
        4 February 2023 23: 30
        - I'm a cloud, a cloud, a cloud! I'm not a bear at all! Piglet, do I look like a little cloud?
        - Not a...
        - And who do I look like?
        - On a bear that flies in a balloon and wants to steal honey from bees.
        - These are the wrong bees and they have the wrong honey! Shoot, Piglet!
        1. +5
          5 February 2023 00: 27
          - These are the wrong bees and they have the wrong honey! Shoot, Piglet!

          - And we will give the knocked down ball to the donkey, now it enters well and exits.
          1. +4
            5 February 2023 03: 39
            Quote: hohohol
            we will give the ball to the donkey

            Especially since the Democrat donkeys are now in power! laughing
        2. +2
          5 February 2023 02: 13
          Quote: carpenter
          Well done Chinese, the commotion happened to the United States noble and there is nothing to get to the bottom of - "weather probe".

          Quote: Reserve officer
          - I'm a cloud, a cloud, a cloud! I'm not a bear at all!

          Report from the departmental newspaper of the Ministry of Defense of China
          For exemplary performance of official duties, courage and heroism shown at the same time, Hero of the People's Republic of China, Major of the Chinese Air Force Win Ying Pooh was awarded an extraordinary military rank ...
    8. +4
      4 February 2023 23: 23
      Such junkies like Senator Pushkov can only talk about the helplessness of the United States for any reason in their Telegram channels. My friend, a former pilot of the MiG-25, said yesterday that the Americans can easily shoot down any device at an altitude of up to 25 km. Even with F-15 or F-22. And the military would have shot down this balloon long ago, apparently there was no order.
      1. +2
        4 February 2023 23: 33
        There is a video in the cart of how air defense worked on it today, Aegis probably. Launched several rockets and past.
        1. 0
          4 February 2023 23: 33
          Quote from Johnson Smithson
          There is a video in the cart of how air defense worked on it today, Aegis probably. Launched several rockets and past.

          So throw off the link, we will laugh over you wink
          Ps Shot down by a rocket launched from some fighter.
      2. 0
        4 February 2023 23: 39
        I think there will be no problems with a height of more than 25 km either, you just have to use something more serious than an airplane bully
        1. +1
          4 February 2023 23: 47
          F-15 / 22 with AIM-120 can shoot down a target up to 40 km high, THAAD / SM-3 up to 200 ~ 250 km.
          1. +2
            5 February 2023 11: 47
            Quote from cold wind
            THAAD/SM-3 up to 200~250 km.

            Bad example. These are systems of transatmospheric interception, at altitudes in the region of 30 kilometers they are ineffective.

            Valer Bellun is a really difficult target - cold in terms of thermal seeker, difficult for radar, especially if you take the difficult material of the ball, much higher and much slower than conventional targets. In general, trolling was a success, but the Americans also practiced, next time they will work better. A flick on the nose never hurts, especially for Americans.
            1. -1
              5 February 2023 14: 14
              Against the background of the sky, this ball is an ideal target for a thermal seeker, for a rocket AGOS it can be difficult to catch it, but not a problem for a fighter radar, the rocket will follow command control. In short, the question is not worth a damn.
      3. 0
        5 February 2023 02: 18
        Quote: BorzRio
        Such junkies like Senator Pushkov can only talk about the helplessness of the United States for any reason in their Telegram channels. My friend, a former pilot of the MiG-25, said yesterday that the Americans can easily shoot down any device at an altitude of up to 25 km. Even with F-15 or F-22. And the military would have shot down this balloon long ago, apparently there was no order.

        And your friend didn’t say anything - in the 87th M. Rust, could our air defenses be shot down?
        Why didn't they shoot it down? I know there was no order. Let me rephrase the question - why was there no order?

        In the 87th, the Americans mocked us to their heart's content.
        Now it's our turn.
        1. 0
          5 February 2023 11: 42
          Quote: Zoldat_A
          Now it's our turn.

          And what about you and your turn? These are Chinese trolls.
          1. +1
            5 February 2023 14: 03
            Quote: Negro
            And what about you and your turn? These are Chinese trolls.

            I personally have nothing to do with it. I didn't ride that balloon.
            M. Rust was a German - the Americans laughed at our Politburo.
            Now the Chinese have dishonored America - I will laugh at their pensioners.
      4. +3
        5 February 2023 06: 56
        You are wrong about easy, the balloon is a very difficult target for missiles, since it heats up very little and then only on one side, it is easier to destroy it with a cannon, but there is another problem, the aircraft speed is too high. And in the end, the striped ones really had a hard time, at first they suffered some reputational losses that they didn’t try to shoot him down right away, and the second they still managed to shoot him down, but again not with one missile and at least 3 aircraft were involved, and this according to official data: F-22, F-15 and AWACS aircraft. So the cost of this attack, according to the most conservative estimates, was from $ 200 tons. The only thing I agree with is that Pushkov and other experts, like the previously mentioned familiar pilot, comment without understanding in detail the situation and performance characteristics of objects.
    9. +5
      4 February 2023 23: 28
      Thus, the theory that the United States did not have the means to destroy an object flying at an altitude of more than 20 km is actually refuted.
      So this theory was voiced only at VO, the Russian Defense Ministry did not say a word about it.
      1. +3
        4 February 2023 23: 45
        Seriously? Are there people who believe that they cannot shoot down a target at an altitude of more than 20 km? Kindergarten hi
        1. +1
          5 February 2023 00: 39
          Quote: Ivan_91
          Seriously? Are there people who believe that they cannot shoot down a target at an altitude of more than 20 km? Kindergarten hi

          There are people here who believe in even bigger fairy tales.
    10. 0
      4 February 2023 23: 29
      It would be necessary for us to start using balloons over Ukraine.
      1. -2
        4 February 2023 23: 33
        so if they were.............................................. ......................................
      2. 0
        5 February 2023 00: 36
        Yeah, and spotters with a spyglass to correct artillery fire)))
        1. 0
          5 February 2023 02: 23
          Quote: Sanguinius
          Yeah, and spotters with a spyglass to correct artillery fire)))

          laughing good
    11. +3
      4 February 2023 23: 30
      It is necessary to send such balls, massively, into the sky outskirts to identify and destroy air defense (an old woman with a jar of cucumbers will definitely not get it).
      1. -5
        4 February 2023 23: 43
        What is the meaning of that? If they are launched at such a height, then it will not be possible to detect air defense, and below they will be shot down with a machine gun and sense request
        1. +5
          5 February 2023 00: 37
          The meaning is in reconnaissance equipment, at altitudes of 40 km and above, no one will get it.
    12. -4
      4 February 2023 23: 48
      The Kandoms were afraid of the Kandoms. America rejoices.
    13. +5
      5 February 2023 00: 24
      It was a test. The following balls will fly in large numbers. You can take advantage of this experience. And balloons can be launched from ships in the ocean. Even from submarines. Even from oil tankers. Flying, taking pictures, broadcasting a picture...
    14. 0
      5 February 2023 00: 31
      Well, at the end, otherwise they took out the brain for a whole week.
    15. +2
      5 February 2023 00: 32
      How. The balloon finally popped...
    16. 0
      5 February 2023 00: 34
      It flew low at an altitude of only 18 km .. Usually probe balloons fly at altitudes of 35-40 km, and the record for raising a probe balloon is 53 km 700 m, at such an altitude the Americans would definitely not have reached it.
      1. +3
        5 February 2023 00: 50
        And on this - they would get it. The question of the cost of deflating the balloon.
    17. 0
      5 February 2023 00: 41
      The theory that the United States did not have the means to destroy an object flying at an altitude of more than 20 km should not exist at all, because this is BSK.
      1. -5
        5 February 2023 00: 45
        Come on. There are people who believe that the earth is flat and the Americans did not land on the moon. And you are talking about such complicated things ...
        1. -1
          5 February 2023 05: 54
          Quote from cold wind
          Come on. There are people who believe that the earth is flat and the Americans did not land on the moon. And you are talking about such complicated things ...

          Actually, they shot down 20 km. Although of course they can be higher. But what they landed on is not a fact. They could fly, they could land, maybe even take off, maybe even dock, maybe even return to Earth, maybe even splash down. But taking into account these "maybe even" multiplied by four or five, how many of these "landings" there were, I can't believe it anymore. As for faith: knowledge-based skepticism and faith in someone's words are very different things. So those who believe in the landings are true believers, and those who do not believe are skeptics.
    18. +4
      5 February 2023 00: 44
      Such stories are a sign of unhealthy processes in the leadership of the state (which, in relation to the United States, cannot but rejoice). Once Rust sat down on Red Square, because the old senile in the Politburo and the Defense Ministry decided to shoot down or not. Now the same senile are at the head of the United States. Let's keep our fingers crossed...
      1. +4
        5 February 2023 03: 31
        Once Rust sat on Red Square, because the old senile in the Politburo and the Defense Ministry decided to shoot down or not

        And what about the Politburo?
        After the downed civilian Korean Boeing, the military was afraid to shoot down a civilian plane. There was so much noise. Nobody wanted a repeat.
    19. -1
      5 February 2023 00: 44
      It's a great idea to make stratospheric controlled unmanned airships and hang them over critical US territories at an altitude of 40-50 km with a thermonuclear charge and means of radar and visual reconnaissance. And go figure out whose they are and who launched them. It is possible to involve some vindictive caliphate in this matter. Flexible solar batteries can be mounted in the shell, which will ensure the generation of electric energy up to 200 kWh. This energy is enough for him for almost everything. The movement can be corrected and held in place by plasma electric motors. And let them be knocked down to the joyful cries of "ov", quickly turning into screams of horror at the sight of an air thermonuclear explosion. How do you like the asymmetrical answer? "Stupid" communists would have thought of this long ago, and "smart" capitalists, apart from significant faces and incomprehensible red lines, have so far been unable to come up with anything significant except for a grain deal and constant regroupings ..
    20. -1
      5 February 2023 00: 48
      It was necessary to add "Novichok" to the ball, let them knock down on health ...
    21. -2
      5 February 2023 00: 51
      the Americans wanted to shoot down if they need to, they will shoot down a satellite over the USA
    22. +6
      5 February 2023 01: 33
      Let's wait if there will be another 101 serious warning from China. In general, a lot depends on where they shot down: over the national territory of the United States or their terrorist waters, or outside them, in international airspace? If this is not a weather balloon, but a reconnaissance one, then it must be stuffed with self-destruction means that detonate when it hits an object. Again, the Americans, but the Americans probably want to present something, but go and find some debris over the sea. There are doubts about the fact that this is a reconnaissance probe: there is not much point in sending it, China has modern satellites with good resolution, and the wind rose is a thing that is difficult to predict. Although it cannot be ruled out 100% purely technically that this is a carefully prepared reconnaissance operation and the probe is not just a weather balloon, but a serious expensive object with remote control via satellite and dropping information on it, including in SBD mode, to avoid interception, with the possibility of maneuver in height to select the desired wind direction. In general, shooting down a low-speed object such as a balloon in flight is still the same task: in the 50-60s, the United States and NATO, in addition to U-2, also sent probes into the airspace of the USSR, though more often with propaganda than with reconnaissance content, missiles and missiles "air-to-air" did not take them, and the planes with their speeds rushed past, not having time to aim their guns. But if you add up the recent raid of North Korean drones on the outskirts of Seoul, the subsequent delirium in Seoul of the US Secretary of Defense with threats of the use of nuclear weapons and the appearance of a Chinese probe over the United States, then theoretically a slightly different puzzle is obtained.
    23. 0
      5 February 2023 01: 49
      They need to make it harder next time. Launch a balloon with models of aerial bombs or other "special products", let them scratch their turnips ...
      1. +2
        5 February 2023 05: 35
        Quote: Fedor M
        They need to make it harder next time. Launch a balloon with models of aerial bombs or other "special products", let them scratch their turnips ...

        Yeah, and a balloon in the form of a rubber product number 2 laughing
    24. The comment was deleted.
    25. Two
      -6
      5 February 2023 03: 28
      Unlike Russia, they shot him down where people do not live and they really protect and protect their inhabitants, unlike our authorities. When the Belgorod and Kursk regions are shelled, our authorities do not see point-blank what is happening there as if it is not the territory of Russia. They are probably waiting for them to shoot at Moscow and St. Petersburg, because they have Russia there, and everything else is not taken seriously.
    26. 0
      5 February 2023 03: 29
      In the Chinese version, it is a weather balloon that was "blown away by the wind in an unknown direction." At the same time, another Chinese balloon “gone with the wind” was found this morning flying south of the United States - first over Costa Rica, then over Venezuela.

      more hype about weather balloons....
    27. 0
      5 February 2023 03: 38
      Another "test tube" of Collins Powell - the abomination begins to escalate around China !!! Arrived from Canada and why Chinese!? He says something in Chinese.
    28. +2
      5 February 2023 05: 26
      American version of "Tsesna" by Matthias Proust.
    29. -1
      5 February 2023 07: 35
      This ball was not reconnaissance. He sprayed special malicious Chinese viruses that make Americans' eyes slanted, and their English speech acquires a Chinese accent. This will allow real Chinese to blend in unnoticed with the crowd of Americans. Thus, America will be annexed by the Chinese, illegally coming from the Middle Kingdom wink
    30. +1
      5 February 2023 10: 12
      Not as an advertisement, On Zen in Historical thimbles, this ball was chewed in detail. They remembered both the Japanese and the wind rose, which was in the arsenal of the Union to solve such problems. The goal is really difficult, because out of 4 thousand such balls in the USSR it was shot down about eight hundred (confirmed). But still they got the hang of shooting down, and the Americans closed the program of "flew away" weather balloons. In 1982, I personally saw the destruction of such a ball in the area of ​​\uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbone of the bases of the nuclear submarines of the Northern Fleet.
    31. 0
      5 February 2023 10: 39
      Ehma. In vain I bought this balloon on Aliexpress.
    32. Hog
      +1
      5 February 2023 11: 33
      What nonsense people write.
      If the Americans did not want to shoot down the ball over their territory, then why did they launch air defense missiles? Don't get along?
      They shot him down only when they could do it, which means that only now such an opportunity has appeared. It turns out that either a serial missile was urgently upgraded for this (the same AIM9 with a more sensitive IR seeker) or something was taken from the museum.
      PS: Rumors about shooting down another ball before that, in general, the whole theory about "do not shoot down over the territory" is destroyed at once.
    33. -2
      5 February 2023 13: 56
      Thus, the theory that the United States did not have the means to destroy an object flying at an altitude of more than 20 km is actually disproved.
      Yes, about the possibility of knocking down the ball, everything was immediately clear to sane people. And reasoning on the topic "can't / can shoot down" is a wonderful occasion for a new series of trolling cheers-patriotic comments ...

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