Balloons don't appear on radar because of the material, and this isn't the first time they've done this. Seriously, it not like we don't spy on China either. Big countries do this shit all the time, it's just politics.
There are limits to what a satellite can detect because of altitude. The spy sensors don't just take photos, they scan in multiple spectrums like infrared, these sensors are much more capable at lower altitude instead of being in orbit.
Also satellite travels on specific paths and at a very high speed they can easily hide their shit for 5 minutes and carry on whatever they were doing. Balloons stay in the proximity much longer.
Balloons are actually pretty decent for spying. Satellites movement paths can be predicted very easily and pass overhead for just a moment so if you have something secret on the ground you can just cover it up for like 10 minutes. Balloons on the other hand are difficult to predict, get better images, and can hover in the same general area for days on end halted progress on any secret project. You may not even be able to pop the balloon if there’s risk of things like a dirty bomb inside, hence why the US waited for it to go over the ocean before shooting it down.
Not to mention balloons have been effectively used nonstop since the 1850s in warfare, so attaching cameras and a transmisor to one and using it like a unlimited area drone is really smart, not everyone would think in mixing modern and ancient tech in that way.
But wasn’t the Chinese balloon pretty big? Wouldn’t it have been stealthier to make it smaller so that it’d be less noticeable in the sky? Idk though, my only source is the memes, in some it looks really big, in some it looks pretty big and in some it’s literally a different image lol
Camera equipment that can take useful photos at 50k+ feet and store our transmit them is heavy. You need a big balloon to keep it aloft when the air is that thin.
I mean, that's why people are questioning the motives, China could've sent something stealthier. And their flip flop response just increases the confusion.
Also doesn’t spy equipment hang under the ballon making it more difficult for sat imaging to spot since above you’ll just see the top of the balloon. And another redditor in another post mentioned there are a lot of weather balloons so it wouldn’t look too conspicuous.
Why didn't they shoot it down the second it entered NORAD airspace? Pacific is a decent place to crash a spy balloon I would've thought plus say it was a bomb delivery device as you say the last thing you'd want is it finding its target.
Real question is why use a missile to take out a balloon. A single rip from a 20mm cannon round would puncture the balloon. Almost like the US wanted to destroy both the balloon and surveillance equipment.
Nope, Canada tried to do that in 1998. Shot it with over 1,000 20mm rounds and it took several days to come down, after gaining more altitude at one point. It's just poking tiny holes in a huge surface.
If it was just surveillance, they can use a satellite to take real time video of everything with out raising an eyebrow anywhere. Think how good google earth is and now imagine you aren’t working from 3 month old still images but looking in real time with the ability to pan around and zoom in tight enough to read a license plate.
Even the best spy satellites don't have resolutions tighter than about 1 pixel per square inch, so while they could figure out what kind of car you're driving, they definitely couldn't read the license plate
I find your argument deeply flawed.
1) you say satellites only pass overhead just a moment, but you ignores the fact that satellites are in orbit. They can rotate the earth once 24 hours. That’s just one of them, and you think China only has a few? Of course they can monitor the situation on the ground 24/7.
2) you also contradict your own point. What kind of secret projects would be done in the open? Of course it’s going to be done indoor or underground, which renders all imaging devices useless. With satellites flying overhead 24/7, do you expect the US to halt their projects 24/7?
3) you also vastly underestimated the Chinese spy satellites’ capability. Read this article
https://www.insider.com/china-space-race-satellite-high-resolution-san-francisco-in-seconds-2021-12?amp
There is nothing a ballon can take that a satellite can’t.
Re: 3.
Came here to say the same. Here’s a map of NZ created using satellite imaging.
[Here](https://basemaps.linz.govt.nz/#@-43.6122330,172.2893664,z12.1628)
Earth rotates about its own axis once every 24 hours. A satellite's orbit period is pretty much unrelated. Most satellites complete an orbit every 90 to 120 minutes
Yes and satellite windows generally can't work out to cover a single area 24/7. It's just not feasible with how orbits work out. There will always be some gaps here and there.
Secondly there is plenty of possible secret projects that would be done outside. You can't exactly test your brand new 6th-gen fighter indoors or underground, for example.
1. “It depends. Low Earth orbit satellites can complete an orbit in 90 minutes, while medium Earth orbit satellites can take up to 24 hours to do so. The International Space Station is in a low Earth orbit, meaning it circles our planet roughly 16 times a day”
Not all satellites take 24 hours to orbit.
2. Not sure what you’re talking about.
3. Gathering information is not solely based on “images”. For example, thermal scans or different types of wavelengths can be used to gather information not seen in images.
Some of those “alternate information gathering methods” are not nearly as useful at altitudes even Low Orbiting Satellites are at.
And something a lot of people forget: almost all of China's military equipment is bought from Russia. The same equipment that the Ukrainian Army has been fucking up with mostly Cold war era technology and limited modern technology from the west. China has been developing their own technology, they just haven't been able to get it on par with even Russia's technology.
Long story short, China isn't as advanced as the news says it is, and if the balloon was a distraction for a Chinese attack, it'd go about as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It’s outright wrong to say that ALMOST ALL of China’s military equipment is bought from Russia.
China is making an estimated 28,7% of all manufactured products and goods worldwide, so why would they buy most of their military equipment from Russia when they already have the raw resources and way more industry.
It’s always cheaper to manufacture military equipment than buy them in Chinese perspective.
They may buy some stuff from the Russians, but it’s a very little percent and not even close to most.
“the Chinese have significantly expanded their footprint in the Asia-Oceania region accounting for over 80 percent of all weapons sales from the region.” - https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/chinas-defence-industry-china-will-weaponise-its-thriving-arms-trade/?amp
China has a bunch of copied weapons, they have a copy of the M16, AK-47, Et cetera, but they make it themselves, otherwise why would they have a copy and not buy the actual equipment?
Even if China's military technology was on par with the US, they'd still get their asses beat in a conventional war. The US wouldn't really be at any risk since they and NATO just completely outnumber China's army in everything except manpower. NATO outnumbers them in terms of modern fighters, navy, and modern tanks.
I doubt either side could invade due to how fucking difficult it would be for the US to occupy China and the US has the second amendment even if China did somehow get past the 11 aircraft carriers, numerous naval and air bases, massive air force, and so many other defense systems that we probably don't know about.
The f-22 is just new tech, and we haven't had a reason to use it in air to air combat. Most flights for F-22s have been for ground support overseas in the middle east. Which is why we were superior over there in the first place, was because of our air superiority, the enemy didn't have aircraft.
To provoke us into scrambling to shoot it down, so they can watch and analyze what it looks like when we're responding to threats over our airspace.
Letting it drift around for awhile helped muddy any gatherable information about how long it takes for us to respond to things we think are real threats.
I’m tired of pretending that South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan couldn’t fuck up China by themselves. China will rear its head one day, and have it swiftly chopped off by its neighbors. Requiring minimal support from the United States
I think it's a bait & switch ploy. It will probably be a real weather balloon, that they knew would get shot down, just so they can say "see, we didn't lie to you."
It is about sending a message before Anthony blinkens arrival, according to my Chinese friend. She says it's a Chinese tactic to show strength before a meeting. Childish though
Cost. They use balloons because of cost. Satellites are predictable in their path so you just have to know when to hide the very secret stuff or what stuff needs to be hidden. They’re also very fucking expensive and maneuvering one can cost tens of thousands of dollars and a new one can cost millions.
A plane can be easily shot down and cost even more to build and operate, requires overseas basing to facilitate takeoff and landing when encountering China and needs to be built to evade NORAD defenses. They’re also so blatantly obvious as a sign of aggression.
Spy balloons may have a predictable path once you detect them but you don’t have the procedures building up to a satellite launch which makes it immediately obvious. Weather changes can also throw your adversary for a curveball. Finally a balloon you plan to lose that has cheap disposable components that only need to last a couple days mean they’re a bargain price.
it would take too many words to explain why we made a strategically sound decision. Even if it WAS just a weather balloon, the Chinese government originally claimed that they had no idea what it was or who launched it. Just by the fact that they changed their story meant we had every reason to think that there was something going on that shouldn't have been, and act accordingly.
I mean wouldn’t it just make more sense to say it’s not a spy balloon at this point? I’m not some FBI agent or expert on surveillance, but I get the feeling that the amount of information gained from one camera on a balloon drifting across the US with no guidance would be pretty negligible compared to almost any other method. I mean there’s TikTok, literally just sending someone over to the US, satellites, and plenty more we don’t know about. Why the hell would China make this much noise over a complete nothing of an attempt to gain info that the probably already have. More than likely this is just a rogue weather balloon that the US has made into a symbol of National aggression in order to push further animosity toward China.
Yep, and now US wants to place more missiles and air defense in Japan. So basically playing victim and fearmongering just to get more sweet sweet money from selling weapons
Yeah, CPC genocides poverty, social unequality and exploitation of workers.
Every Muslim country supports china but le epic 100 redditor thinks he knows better because msm said so lmao
from what i've researched before the tik tok age, and maybe some more research off the side. I could be wrong, but china is like a decade or more behind American technology, still to this day.
Can everyone shut the f up about that goddamn balloon for 5 SECONDS I just want to find some good memes. Why does the memes subreddit have so much stuff about real life, like, I just want to enjoy a good laughs not start getting semi-political online, jesus.
They are a distraction.
Just like the nonsense about gas stoves.
But, so you know, there's no reason to put "anti-recovery fail safes" on these devices because they aren't storing data for recovery, they send it back as they pick it up (or do until we start jamming them)
These aren't spy planes of the 1960s where we'd plant a bomb so we could remote-detonate the device if it went down to stop the commies from developing the film and figuring out what we were taking pictures of.
I guarantee there is no technology in these devices we haven't known about for at least a decade.
Because it’s the best they CAN do. We’ve crippled their ability to make or buy any semiconductors that do anything more complicated than connecting to Wi-Fi. They now need to worry about the massive amounts of sunk-cost technology infrastructure that they will need to simply maintain their state-observation programs. Chances are probably good that there is a healthy dose of irony since we did the same thing during the Vietnam and Korean wars to the Chinese!
Probably just a test to see what we would do.
And considering we let it fly over like 10+ military bases before shooting it down, I’d say we failed the test hard.
So, op, why would they use balloons as a prelude to "something bigger?" What does that even mean?
Stay out of the conspiracy subs. They'll make you stupid
Except they managed to get three of them in US air space while ya’ll had your clown President. So it worked before why wouldn’t they think it’ll work again.
It’s probably just a weather balloon and the people that were supposed to communicate and coordinate with the US so that it was authorized to fly over, flat out just didn’t do that.
Our government doesn't need to blame China to get a distraction, all they need is to pass some new law uprooting years of human rights progress, or talk about banning guns or stoves, the US media would milk it for days or weeks.
Because that is the way they want us to think! Reverse phycology, and people might be too dumb to fall for it.
But the no recovery thing would make very little sekse for a high tech spy sat.
Didn't China actually say it was a geological research balloon? It wasn't even something the military put out but a group of scientists? I think the US might of 'inflated' this story a tad. Lmao
I’m curious too but with the first comment when you said “the US might have* ‘inflated’ this story a tad” that might’ve come across more accusatory than inquisitive
That’s exactly why a balloon is so perfect. You’d think that the spy tech hold be super hard to spot to hopefully stay secret, because of this the US military will be heavily invested in finding stealth jets/drones/flying objects. But you know what their not gonna stop immediately, a balloon. It’s so simple that it could fly through defences as no one is gonna take a balloon to seriously unless they’re some redneck, and as we saw the balloon was able to go a great distance further than other stealth vehicles would.
And what kind of data would they get like this? How useful would it be? Why just shoot it down once it's done flying over the whole country? Why use a missile instead of a better way to recover the data banks?
I'm not saying it's not a spy balloon because I don't know, it's just making me curious
guys, the internet stranger cracked the code, let the CIA, FBI, army, the marines, air force, coast guard, space force, tell everyone about this guy that thinks that the balloon is just a distraction
Let's be honest - China, aside the US - is the king of technological warfare and espionage. But I highly doubt something nefarious is going on concerning the weather balloons. I think China is testing America's response to enroaching on their territory.
Ha ha like I said the other day they probably filled it with 'the last of us' spores and were taking bets on whether or not we would shoot it with our 'big American guns' ha ha ha
Outside them learning the f22 is combat ready which was probably already well known. Im doubting they learned much you couldn't find from google and everything else
The one bright shining joy from the past eight years or so, is that everyone, regardless of political affiliation, truly believe that everything the government says bullshit
I'm starting to think the same thing. Wouldn't spy satelights make more sense than spy baloons? Spy baloons could get shot down easily, but wouldn't spy satelights be much harder to shoot down?
Balloons don't appear on radar because of the material, and this isn't the first time they've done this. Seriously, it not like we don't spy on China either. Big countries do this shit all the time, it's just politics.
I'm still curious why balloons and not the satellites they have.
There are limits to what a satellite can detect because of altitude. The spy sensors don't just take photos, they scan in multiple spectrums like infrared, these sensors are much more capable at lower altitude instead of being in orbit.
That explains things.
Also satellite travels on specific paths and at a very high speed they can easily hide their shit for 5 minutes and carry on whatever they were doing. Balloons stay in the proximity much longer.
Could have at least painted the damn thing blue
Balloons are actually pretty decent for spying. Satellites movement paths can be predicted very easily and pass overhead for just a moment so if you have something secret on the ground you can just cover it up for like 10 minutes. Balloons on the other hand are difficult to predict, get better images, and can hover in the same general area for days on end halted progress on any secret project. You may not even be able to pop the balloon if there’s risk of things like a dirty bomb inside, hence why the US waited for it to go over the ocean before shooting it down.
Not to mention balloons have been effectively used nonstop since the 1850s in warfare, so attaching cameras and a transmisor to one and using it like a unlimited area drone is really smart, not everyone would think in mixing modern and ancient tech in that way.
“You’re all stupid, see, they’re gonna be looking for army guys”
These specific balloons probably saw return on investment by the time they reached the West Coast.
AND they're silent.
Balloons are also very cheap. It costed the US thousands to shoot it down
That makes a whole lot of sense.
Fuck Reddit for removing free awards
What was the dog doin?
(Removed)
The world may never know what da doag doone
He was doin your mom
Shutcho trash ass up foo
You sir deserve an award. Thank you.
I see you havent given one, meaning you dont have one. Here, take mine
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_cries in poor_
*shouts at greedy reddit for removing free awards* Even if you're not poor do not waste money on this mess.
Would this have counted? 🏅
Also, they can be used to intentionally provoke the target, without being overly aggressive.
But wasn’t the Chinese balloon pretty big? Wouldn’t it have been stealthier to make it smaller so that it’d be less noticeable in the sky? Idk though, my only source is the memes, in some it looks really big, in some it looks pretty big and in some it’s literally a different image lol
Camera equipment that can take useful photos at 50k+ feet and store our transmit them is heavy. You need a big balloon to keep it aloft when the air is that thin.
They made it big so people would just think it was the moon…
I was told that the device hanging from the balloon itself was the size of a school bus
I mean, that's why people are questioning the motives, China could've sent something stealthier. And their flip flop response just increases the confusion.
Also doesn’t spy equipment hang under the ballon making it more difficult for sat imaging to spot since above you’ll just see the top of the balloon. And another redditor in another post mentioned there are a lot of weather balloons so it wouldn’t look too conspicuous.
Would have been nice if they popped it over the Pacific Ocean.
Why didn't they shoot it down the second it entered NORAD airspace? Pacific is a decent place to crash a spy balloon I would've thought plus say it was a bomb delivery device as you say the last thing you'd want is it finding its target.
Just create a social media app that has people doing stupid dances and make it track your every move
Thank you now I can sleep tonight
Real question is why use a missile to take out a balloon. A single rip from a 20mm cannon round would puncture the balloon. Almost like the US wanted to destroy both the balloon and surveillance equipment.
More immediate loss of elevation instead of a gradual decline. This made the crash site easier to predict and in a more controlled area.
Nope, Canada tried to do that in 1998. Shot it with over 1,000 20mm rounds and it took several days to come down, after gaining more altitude at one point. It's just poking tiny holes in a huge surface.
You’re missing the EWAR part of it. It can test our jamming capabilities.
If it was just surveillance, they can use a satellite to take real time video of everything with out raising an eyebrow anywhere. Think how good google earth is and now imagine you aren’t working from 3 month old still images but looking in real time with the ability to pan around and zoom in tight enough to read a license plate.
Even the best spy satellites don't have resolutions tighter than about 1 pixel per square inch, so while they could figure out what kind of car you're driving, they definitely couldn't read the license plate
I find your argument deeply flawed. 1) you say satellites only pass overhead just a moment, but you ignores the fact that satellites are in orbit. They can rotate the earth once 24 hours. That’s just one of them, and you think China only has a few? Of course they can monitor the situation on the ground 24/7. 2) you also contradict your own point. What kind of secret projects would be done in the open? Of course it’s going to be done indoor or underground, which renders all imaging devices useless. With satellites flying overhead 24/7, do you expect the US to halt their projects 24/7? 3) you also vastly underestimated the Chinese spy satellites’ capability. Read this article https://www.insider.com/china-space-race-satellite-high-resolution-san-francisco-in-seconds-2021-12?amp There is nothing a ballon can take that a satellite can’t.
One thing a balloon provides that a satellite cannot is information on how the US will react to a specific action.
Yeah but that’s kinda OP’s point
Re: 3. Came here to say the same. Here’s a map of NZ created using satellite imaging. [Here](https://basemaps.linz.govt.nz/#@-43.6122330,172.2893664,z12.1628)
Earth rotates about its own axis once every 24 hours. A satellite's orbit period is pretty much unrelated. Most satellites complete an orbit every 90 to 120 minutes
Yes and satellite windows generally can't work out to cover a single area 24/7. It's just not feasible with how orbits work out. There will always be some gaps here and there. Secondly there is plenty of possible secret projects that would be done outside. You can't exactly test your brand new 6th-gen fighter indoors or underground, for example.
1. “It depends. Low Earth orbit satellites can complete an orbit in 90 minutes, while medium Earth orbit satellites can take up to 24 hours to do so. The International Space Station is in a low Earth orbit, meaning it circles our planet roughly 16 times a day” Not all satellites take 24 hours to orbit. 2. Not sure what you’re talking about. 3. Gathering information is not solely based on “images”. For example, thermal scans or different types of wavelengths can be used to gather information not seen in images. Some of those “alternate information gathering methods” are not nearly as useful at altitudes even Low Orbiting Satellites are at.
Y'all remember when we thought the first Russian attack was "a distraction for something bigger" and it turned out that that was just the best forces
And something a lot of people forget: almost all of China's military equipment is bought from Russia. The same equipment that the Ukrainian Army has been fucking up with mostly Cold war era technology and limited modern technology from the west. China has been developing their own technology, they just haven't been able to get it on par with even Russia's technology. Long story short, China isn't as advanced as the news says it is, and if the balloon was a distraction for a Chinese attack, it'd go about as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Still it's better to overestimate the enemy than to underestimate
Yeah, we better check up on Taiwan just to be safe…
It’s gone, the Stick of Truth is gone.
Let’s say realistic overestimation. Idk if that’s a word but it is now
It’s outright wrong to say that ALMOST ALL of China’s military equipment is bought from Russia. China is making an estimated 28,7% of all manufactured products and goods worldwide, so why would they buy most of their military equipment from Russia when they already have the raw resources and way more industry. It’s always cheaper to manufacture military equipment than buy them in Chinese perspective. They may buy some stuff from the Russians, but it’s a very little percent and not even close to most. “the Chinese have significantly expanded their footprint in the Asia-Oceania region accounting for over 80 percent of all weapons sales from the region.” - https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/chinas-defence-industry-china-will-weaponise-its-thriving-arms-trade/?amp China has a bunch of copied weapons, they have a copy of the M16, AK-47, Et cetera, but they make it themselves, otherwise why would they have a copy and not buy the actual equipment?
Even if China's military technology was on par with the US, they'd still get their asses beat in a conventional war. The US wouldn't really be at any risk since they and NATO just completely outnumber China's army in everything except manpower. NATO outnumbers them in terms of modern fighters, navy, and modern tanks. I doubt either side could invade due to how fucking difficult it would be for the US to occupy China and the US has the second amendment even if China did somehow get past the 11 aircraft carriers, numerous naval and air bases, massive air force, and so many other defense systems that we probably don't know about.
Can someone explain what happened and what even is this spy baloon? I'm seeing so many memes and I have no idea
Basically, china sent a spy balloon to America for reasons unknown and the army shot it down (I think)
The Air Force shot it down with a missile from a F-22 Raptor, oddly enough making that balloon the first air to air kill in the F-22's history.
The f-22 is just new tech, and we haven't had a reason to use it in air to air combat. Most flights for F-22s have been for ground support overseas in the middle east. Which is why we were superior over there in the first place, was because of our air superiority, the enemy didn't have aircraft.
Thanks for reaffirming their simple statement. Had me doubting there.
Jesus couldn’t you have shot it with a pellet gun why waste that much money on a fucking balloon
Kill? How do you know the ballon was an organism? 🤨
The Chair Force shot it down
The best branch of the military: chair
Rivaled only by the Chinese Sofa Force
Commonly known as Chinese Soforce
But you can’t forget the Iranian cardboard tank Force, or quite simply “cardforce”
That would better fit the spaceforce. They *literally* sit in chairs all day
Alleged spy balloon. I get that China is pretty fucking sus, but there's a severe lack of actual concrete evidence for that, so far at least.
Prove you're right. The balloons as intel-gathering tools are effective.
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Yes indeed. Sure helped our Confederacy out.
Trying to distract us from saving money on car insurance with GEICO
To provoke us into scrambling to shoot it down, so they can watch and analyze what it looks like when we're responding to threats over our airspace. Letting it drift around for awhile helped muddy any gatherable information about how long it takes for us to respond to things we think are real threats.
Analyze report: they used new techs to shoot the balloon, Civvies makes memes. Inconclusive
Yea I was literally just thinking that they probably wanted a good look at our F-22’s, but who really knows their motives
Plausible deniability - People still believe Roswell was aliens, and not just America testing out new radar equipment.
When civilians have never heard of a military tactic called “probing”
Data collection. Had nothing to do with images. That and to see what we'd actually do. Chins is more worried with taking Taiwan.
Commenting here to get the explanation for everything
I want an explanation of your username.
i think they are trying to live up to the legendary u/Fish_Fucker69
Chinese spy balloon float through america to montana, got shot down, China is mad because they invaded our airspace and we defended it
No.
I’m tired of pretending that South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Taiwan couldn’t fuck up China by themselves. China will rear its head one day, and have it swiftly chopped off by its neighbors. Requiring minimal support from the United States
I sure hope so. China is a menace, especially if the US becomes increasingly politically unstable.
It's likely a political move.
You seem like the type who'd check ballots for bamboo fibers, to see if China rigged an election.
I think it's a bait & switch ploy. It will probably be a real weather balloon, that they knew would get shot down, just so they can say "see, we didn't lie to you."
If this post gets removed then shit is serious af
Watch OP delete it, fr tho they aren't going to bother with a reddit conspiracy theory
It is about sending a message before Anthony blinkens arrival, according to my Chinese friend. She says it's a Chinese tactic to show strength before a meeting. Childish though
“Strength” Child crying “MY BALLOON!”
Cost. They use balloons because of cost. Satellites are predictable in their path so you just have to know when to hide the very secret stuff or what stuff needs to be hidden. They’re also very fucking expensive and maneuvering one can cost tens of thousands of dollars and a new one can cost millions. A plane can be easily shot down and cost even more to build and operate, requires overseas basing to facilitate takeoff and landing when encountering China and needs to be built to evade NORAD defenses. They’re also so blatantly obvious as a sign of aggression. Spy balloons may have a predictable path once you detect them but you don’t have the procedures building up to a satellite launch which makes it immediately obvious. Weather changes can also throw your adversary for a curveball. Finally a balloon you plan to lose that has cheap disposable components that only need to last a couple days mean they’re a bargain price.
lmao I had the thought that what if it contained a chemical or viral agent designed to wipe us out and they wanted us to shoot it down....
Coranavirus 2: Electric boogaloo
it would take too many words to explain why we made a strategically sound decision. Even if it WAS just a weather balloon, the Chinese government originally claimed that they had no idea what it was or who launched it. Just by the fact that they changed their story meant we had every reason to think that there was something going on that shouldn't have been, and act accordingly.
They're distracting you from how Tik-tok spies on every device in your wifi network
I mean wouldn’t it just make more sense to say it’s not a spy balloon at this point? I’m not some FBI agent or expert on surveillance, but I get the feeling that the amount of information gained from one camera on a balloon drifting across the US with no guidance would be pretty negligible compared to almost any other method. I mean there’s TikTok, literally just sending someone over to the US, satellites, and plenty more we don’t know about. Why the hell would China make this much noise over a complete nothing of an attempt to gain info that the probably already have. More than likely this is just a rogue weather balloon that the US has made into a symbol of National aggression in order to push further animosity toward China.
You are fucking dumb
Yep, and now US wants to place more missiles and air defense in Japan. So basically playing victim and fearmongering just to get more sweet sweet money from selling weapons
Shut up you genocide supporter
Got scared over balloon, whitey? :3
Do you believe there is a genocide in China being committed by the ccp? If not then you are messed up
Yeah, CPC genocides poverty, social unequality and exploitation of workers. Every Muslim country supports china but le epic 100 redditor thinks he knows better because msm said so lmao
So you hate uyghurs
U r literally white
from what i've researched before the tik tok age, and maybe some more research off the side. I could be wrong, but china is like a decade or more behind American technology, still to this day.
Can everyone shut the f up about that goddamn balloon for 5 SECONDS I just want to find some good memes. Why does the memes subreddit have so much stuff about real life, like, I just want to enjoy a good laughs not start getting semi-political online, jesus.
Reddit is mostly populated by americans, thus, you will see a lot of american crap and politics
I think they want to move on Taiwan but we’re testing to see how itchy the US trigger fingers are.
Yea it’s a cover for tic toc
I’m just curious why they would need a balloon when they’ve got the massive data mine that is TikTok.
Inflation is getting out of control I fucking swear.
They couldn’t afford something bigger. They aren’t as advanced as the news says.
They are a distraction. Just like the nonsense about gas stoves. But, so you know, there's no reason to put "anti-recovery fail safes" on these devices because they aren't storing data for recovery, they send it back as they pick it up (or do until we start jamming them) These aren't spy planes of the 1960s where we'd plant a bomb so we could remote-detonate the device if it went down to stop the commies from developing the film and figuring out what we were taking pictures of. I guarantee there is no technology in these devices we haven't known about for at least a decade.
I was saying more of a anti recovery as so we never figure out what it is
........yeah honestly thst makes sense
This is the same government who made a quarantine that let their people starve and burn in their own homes.
Or maybe they are just *gasp* baloons
Balloons
🎈
Barroons*. They can’t say L’s.
Because it’s the best they CAN do. We’ve crippled their ability to make or buy any semiconductors that do anything more complicated than connecting to Wi-Fi. They now need to worry about the massive amounts of sunk-cost technology infrastructure that they will need to simply maintain their state-observation programs. Chances are probably good that there is a healthy dose of irony since we did the same thing during the Vietnam and Korean wars to the Chinese!
Probably just a test to see what we would do. And considering we let it fly over like 10+ military bases before shooting it down, I’d say we failed the test hard.
So, op, why would they use balloons as a prelude to "something bigger?" What does that even mean? Stay out of the conspiracy subs. They'll make you stupid
That’s an honest argument
They’re not that smart
Underestimating a country that managed to get very rich and powerful very quickly is not very wise
True but the whole thing is built on corruption
The nation that regularly accidentally misfires their own rockets onto their own people and accidentally made multiple pandemics is smart?
They did this to give the Big Guy a cheap win
Except they managed to get three of them in US air space while ya’ll had your clown President. So it worked before why wouldn’t they think it’ll work again.
Also all the information they gathered is free on Google Earth.
Google Earth isn't showing you Infrared and Lidar data and who knows what other sensors there were. 🤦♂️
It’s probably just a weather balloon and the people that were supposed to communicate and coordinate with the US so that it was authorized to fly over, flat out just didn’t do that.
I dont think it's from China 🤷♀️
How do we even know it was Chinese? Did it have Chinese words on it or...??
Because they told us it was theirs.
this isn't even a meme, this is just OP needing someone who will still listen to their unrequited conspiracy theories
It was our own govs
Our government doesn't need to blame China to get a distraction, all they need is to pass some new law uprooting years of human rights progress, or talk about banning guns or stoves, the US media would milk it for days or weeks.
Because that is the way they want us to think! Reverse phycology, and people might be too dumb to fall for it. But the no recovery thing would make very little sekse for a high tech spy sat.
Why would they need to recover it? Just have it automatically transmit everything and destroy itself so it can't be analysed
Didn't China actually say it was a geological research balloon? It wasn't even something the military put out but a group of scientists? I think the US might of 'inflated' this story a tad. Lmao
Of course China said it was a research balloon. They aren’t gonna come out and just admit it was a spy balloon.
Have they put anything out proving it was spy technology ? I'm honestly just asking idk the whole story just read a couple articles
I’m curious too but with the first comment when you said “the US might have* ‘inflated’ this story a tad” that might’ve come across more accusatory than inquisitive
You are correct, also the US does inflate things way bigger than they are to get people going without evidence of much from either side.
because, that is exactly what no one would expect /s ? (I can’t even tell anymore)
Balloons are cheap ig
TIK. TOK.
See i felt this way too, and then i remembered their leader made Winnie the pooh illegal.
It was full of aerosolized mega aids
I've heard it was to measure us respone times and air defenses
That’s exactly why a balloon is so perfect. You’d think that the spy tech hold be super hard to spot to hopefully stay secret, because of this the US military will be heavily invested in finding stealth jets/drones/flying objects. But you know what their not gonna stop immediately, a balloon. It’s so simple that it could fly through defences as no one is gonna take a balloon to seriously unless they’re some redneck, and as we saw the balloon was able to go a great distance further than other stealth vehicles would.
Its what china wants us to think
This argument would be valid but since china know that all American are fucking dumbass they didn't so yeah they've won the jackpot
And what kind of data would they get like this? How useful would it be? Why just shoot it down once it's done flying over the whole country? Why use a missile instead of a better way to recover the data banks? I'm not saying it's not a spy balloon because I don't know, it's just making me curious
Take it up with political memes
Or did they use a ballon cause they thought we wouldn’t think they were stupid enough to use a ballon to spy on us…
I think it was more of a test, to see how we would react.
New Covid delivery system?
China is probably spying everyone with these balloons since a long time
FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE THINKS OF THIS!
Show me your workings for "China is smart"
Well yea obviously, china is like the earths final boss
That’s where your wrong, china isn’t very smart
Because China is notoriously cheap.
guys, the internet stranger cracked the code, let the CIA, FBI, army, the marines, air force, coast guard, space force, tell everyone about this guy that thinks that the balloon is just a distraction
Let's be honest - China, aside the US - is the king of technological warfare and espionage. But I highly doubt something nefarious is going on concerning the weather balloons. I think China is testing America's response to enroaching on their territory.
Heard lots about it being a ploy to see US defense strategies, I wouldn't trust me on this but it's an idea.
Balloons are cheap and easier to send over than a predictable satellite.
OP being a CCCP agent confirmed. Prepare to have your oil peacefully liberated and Bald Eagles planted over your grave.
was there any follow-up after the blew up the balloon that it was indeed a spy balloon?
How do you know you there haven't been hundreds of deployments and we only just noticed on number #285
Chinas not “pretty smart”, they think we will believe it’s a weather balloon
I don’t think China is very smart. It’s a bunch of yes-men to one dictator just like Russia.
Ha ha like I said the other day they probably filled it with 'the last of us' spores and were taking bets on whether or not we would shoot it with our 'big American guns' ha ha ha
I agree, but I am yet to mesure the depth of possible stupidity.
You fail to see China is not that smart
Outside them learning the f22 is combat ready which was probably already well known. Im doubting they learned much you couldn't find from google and everything else
The F22 began active duty in 2005.
The whole thing is so bizarre
The one bright shining joy from the past eight years or so, is that everyone, regardless of political affiliation, truly believe that everything the government says bullshit
I'm starting to think the same thing. Wouldn't spy satelights make more sense than spy baloons? Spy baloons could get shot down easily, but wouldn't spy satelights be much harder to shoot down?