There's no coexisting with these people
(media.scored.co)
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So flack is launched from Anti-Aircraft Artillery. Got any laying about? How about AAA with the capability of hitting targets at an altitude of 35 km?
As for proximity fused cannon shells; cool! you are shooting at a cloud. Proximity to what?
Two fighter jets strafed the balloon with anti-aircraft cannons and it didn't care. It was eventually shot down with an air burst of a guided missile. That would be hundreds of thousands of dollars of ordinance.
The array was an insignificant target compared to the balloon, which was about the size of a football stadium at that point; Moreover shooting the array would not bring the balloon down.
This is what I was talking about. They could have done this the moment it entered US airspace, instead of waiting for it to complete it's mission when it made its way to the goddamn Atlantic. the hell are you being such a pedantic faggot?
In that case I agree.
It was a feat that could have easily been achieved should the Chief of Staff had the political will and the willingness to drop a few million bucks on a sortie of modern air-superiority fighters and ordinance.
I'd go further, and say that the reason they didn't shoot it down in flyover country is because of the splash it would have made on the internet.
A few million bucks in ordinance is chump change compared to the damage it could have caused if it detonated an EMP over important infrastructure, or dispersed a bioweapon. The intelligence it gathered for China was likely worth well over a few million, too. By allowing it to travel across the entire continental US it was a declaration to China that we won't defend our airspace. This was a probing attack, and it was a resounding success for China.
I agree with all points.
This is failure by Biden in his role as Commander in Chief. He should be impeached for this.
High resolution footage of the flyover states without atmospheric interference could easily reveal the location of US ICBM silos.
The decision to not shoot it down over Kansas (or whatever) was a cynical decision of politics and optics over strategic interests.
As this isn't the first such probing attack, there is not reason for the Air Force to have a policy to deal with these balloons. They could easily be dropped into the arctic ocean on every occasion; well before they make landfall.
It is an opportunity to send a message: Most countries could not shoot down a high altitude balloon, but the USA can.
Draw a parallel with the U2 surveillance planes of the 60s.