Could I put forth a possibility/theory on how the current administration could have just recently discovered previous balloons.

And perhaps a HAM operator can chime in.

I don't doubt that the IC keeps recordings of background signals/radiation. Once they were aware of the balloon, could they take the balloon's signature and go back and look at the recordings looking for possible previous balloons?

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...-for-action-n2619242

The narrative on the Chinese spy balloon has gotten even more bizarre, given that the Biden administration's response includes claiming that the same thing happened under the Trump administration, three times. Not only does former and potentially future President Donald Trump deny it, but so do members of his administration, including Mike Pompeo, who served as CIA director and then secretary of state, and may be a potential 2024 primary rival, as well as former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, the head of U.S. Northern Command, is in the news for his Monday remarks on this narrative, which don't exactly shine much light when it comes to clarifying the situation.

A reporter had asked "was NORTHCOM involved in tracking the balloon that was at the early stage of the Biden Administration and also the three that transited during the Trump administration," as well as "what can you tell us about those that were different?"

After acknowledging that it is his "responsibility to detect threats to North America," General VanHerck then went on to share "I will tell you that we did not detect those threats . And that's a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out," though he then demurred, adding "I don't want to go in further detail."

"The intel community, after the fact, I believe has been briefed already, assess those threats to additional means of collection from additional means and made us aware of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transited North America. I hope that answers your question," he said as he finished up his response.

did VanHerck just step into something very classified ?

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
After acknowledging that it is his "responsibility to detect threats to North America," General VanHerck then went on to share "I will tell you that we did not detect those threats . And that's a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out," though he then demurred, adding "I don't want to go in further detail."

Yeah, I'll bet you don't.

It's a puzzler, ain't it? Perhaps if the general attempted to use plain speech instead of pseudo-sophisticated terms such as "domain awareness gap" things would be clearer to all involved, including himself.

quote:

"The intel community, after the fact, I believe has been briefed already, assess those threats to additional means of collection from additional means and made us aware of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transited North America. I hope that answers your question," he said as he finished up his response.

"... assess those threats to additional means of collection from additional means..."

Beautiful. The Kamala Harris School of Communicating Communications for Communicators gets another endorsement.

Yesterday, I heard that the little pieces parts of the blown-up formerly blown-up balloon's payload were being sent to the FBI for analysis. Oh, we're sure get to the truth now, aren't we?

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...in-2018_5037040.html

(might be a paywall issue)

Balloon With 3 Hypersonic Missiles Tested by China in 2018

Chinese state-owned television aired footage of a high-altitude balloon dropping hypersonic weapons in 2018.

The stunning footage displays a high-altitude balloon, not dissimilar from the one that traversed over the United States last week, carrying three hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) into high altitude and dropping them for testing.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on the weapons test in September 2018. The footage has since been deleted from Chinese media, but photographs and short clips can still be found online.

In one post from 2018, a Twitter user shared footage from Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, which shows the balloon lifting the three HGVs from the ground.

video at:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1043036417843056641







The balloon-dropped HGVs were part of an effort to develop precision warheads for hypersonic weapons, which would give the Chinese military an “unstoppable nuclear-capable weapon,” according to the South China Morning Post.

“While China has tested hypersonic missiles launched from balloons in the past, that isn’t a likely use for these airships,” Crespo told The Epoch Times in an email. “The biggest threat is sending one or more of these high altitude balloons over the U.S. with a small nuclear EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) device.”

“Detonated at extremely high altitude, they could knock out power and communications across the US, wreaking widespread havoc for a year or more without firing a shot on the ground.”

Though Crespo did not believe that balloon-dropped hypersonics would be the next big thing in a nuclear conflict, the HGVs dropped in the footage may well have contributed to the development of the hypersonic weapon system secretly tested by China in 2021.

and

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...alloons_4580206.html

The Pentagon is investing tens of millions of dollars into high-altitude balloons that it intends to use for surveillance. It’s anticipated that the balloons will fly twice as high as most commercial aircraft and may be used one day soon to locate and track China’s hypersonic weapons.

The high-altitude assets are likely to be quite high-tech. While the altitude ceiling for commercial aircraft is about 43,000 feet and that of the U.S. Reaper drone is roughly 50,000 feet, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) new inflatable surveillance balloons are expected to reach heights as great as 90,000 feet, according to a new report by Politico.

https://www.politico.com/news/...sia-hot-air-00043860

The Pentagon is working on a new plan to rise above competition from China and Russia: balloons.

The high-altitude inflatables, flying at between 60,000 and 90,000 feet, would be added to the Pentagon’s extensive surveillance network and could eventually be used to track hypersonic weapons.

The idea may sound like science fiction, but Pentagon budget documents signal the technology is moving from DoD’s scientific community to the military services.

“High or very high-altitude platforms have a lot of benefit for their endurance on station, maneuverability and also flexibility for multiple payloads,” said Tom Karako, senior fellow for the International Security Program and Missile Defense Project director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Pentagon continues to invest in these projects because the military could use the balloons for various missions.

Over the past two years, the Pentagon has spent about $3.8 million on balloon projects, and plans to spend $27.1 million in fiscal year 2023 to continue work on multiple efforts, according to budget documents.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is working on its own hypersonic weapons program, despite Wednesday’s failure of the latest test.

A bright spot for the U.S. is the balloons may help track and deter hypersonic weapons being developed by China and Russia.

one way the balloons could be useful — augmenting expensive satellites in tracking the missiles. The teardrop-shaped balloons harvest complex data and navigate using AI algorithms.

Raven Aerostar, a division of Raven Industries, produces the balloons. Raven said they consist of a flight control unit, powered by batteries that are charged using renewable solar panels. They also have a payload electronics package that controls flight safety, navigation and communications, Russell Van Der Werff, engineering director at Raven Aerostar, said in an interview.

Wind currents allow the balloon to float along a desired flight path, and the company takes advantage of different wind speeds and directions to move the balloon to the target area.

But that’s not all. Raven Aerostar uses a proprietary machine-learning algorithm that predicts wind directions and fuses incoming sensor data in real time, Van Der Werff said. The company also employs a software program to pilot and monitor its balloon fleet and has a mission operations center manned with trained flight engineers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he added.

The balloons can supplement work performed by traditional aircraft and satellites, and stratospheric balloons can be built and launched at a fraction of the cost and time. For example, the cost to launch and operate balloons for weeks or months is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, versus millions — or tens of millions — needed to launch and operate aircraft or satellites.

When I heard they were going recover the balloons payload, the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Ark is being stored in a huge government warehouse sprang to mind.

Para's estimate was completely correct. A revised estimate has the balloon at twice the size of original estimates: over 200 feet in height, or roughly four times the size of the Snoopy balloon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, with the payload weighing in excess of a couple thousand pounds. Iow, a 20-story building, or roughly the size of a 4-engine commercial airliner.



nbcnews

quote:

…or roughly four times the size of the Snoopy balloon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade…

If that chart is to scale, the Chinese spy balloon as a wee bit bigger than 4x the size of Snoopy.

The volume of the Chinese spy balloon is roughly 4,189,000 cubic feet. Snoopy is roughly 15,000 cubic feet. 4,189,000/15,000=279. Therefore, Chinese balloon is 279x the size of the Snoopy balloon.

Say what you want about the new 4th grade math, but the Asians and Indians are kicking our American asses.

^That’s from the original article. I noticed that, too, and presumed they meant lengthwise vs. volume. Poorly written articles seem to be quite the norm these days.

It’s not that it’s poorly written, rather it’s just plain wrong and glaringly so. There’s no measurement there that equates to the Chinese balloon being 4x larger than Snoopy. Without strings, Snoopy appears to be 25’-30’ 4x which would be 100’ to 120’. With strings, Snoopy appears to be 75’ to 80’ tall 4x which would be 300’ to 320’. None of those numbers are roughly 200’.

How can this make the national news without someone saying it doesn’t look or sound right? It’s so simple to check. The Snoopy/Woodstock balloon depicted in the graph was in the parade from 2013-2015. I of course don’t just know that, but it only took 10 seconds to find out. It’s like the thread I started a few months ago where the NBC Nightly Mew claimed 70% of Americans had a package stolen last year. How can anobody believe anything these people say if they can’t even get the east stuff right?

They way they just make stuff up out of thin air, I’m beginning to wonder if there really was a balloon in the first place.

Actually, most of the Snoopy balloons are around 50 feet in height. 50 x 4 = 200, making the estimate spot on.

However, the Snoopy plus Woodstock balloon which is pictured is prone and 67 feet long. 67 x 3 = 201. So it probably would have been better to picture one of the upright Snoopies. Arguably it's more like the graphics are off rather than the article itself. But yes, they should really be using volume vs. linear dimensions.

The balloon distraction has caused everyone to forget about classified documents, vax induced deaths, Epstein s clients and whatever squirrels might be out there.

Funny how the news stories work.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
“The biggest threat is sending one or more of these high altitude balloons over the U.S. with a small nuclear EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) device.”

“Detonated at extremely high altitude, they could knock out power and communications across the US, wreaking widespread havoc for a year or more without firing a shot on the ground.”

While that is certainly a threat that should be on our radar, I don't think China is too keen on becoming a smoking radioactive hole in the ground that is uninhabitable for a few thousand years.

Batshit crazy muslims? Yeah. China? I doubt it. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. They can ruin us without firing a shot. They already are.

^^ So we were just discussing how massively huge this thing is and the Navy is using a small skiff to salvage it? The balloon material itself has to be huge even deflated and weight tons when wet and then the payload under it? I think they need a bigger boat!

And now china want's the debris back.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/...oes-not-belong-to-us

OK. But it will make this plane we got back look good:

Hello, all my friends! I am Weather Balloon! Hello!

Speaking to you from the afterlife! It not bad at all! Except right now, the FBI have my mortal remains.

These people real drag, you know? I got joke for you!

Q: How you get to be FBI agent in this country?

A: Search me!

Ha! That good one. You laugh! Hello!

I hear FBI agents talking. They say after they finish looking at me, they send me back to China! Because, you know, FBI and Chinese government, they get along great these days! Got lot in common!

Anyway, after they send me back, Chinese government make me into millions of condoms and ship me back to United State, so maybe we get to know each other real good! Hello!

Listen, we friends, right? OK, I let you in on big secret. After they make me into condoms, they poke tiny hole in end of condom.

Another joke!

Q: What you guy call guy who use these condom?

A: Daddy!

Ha! Wait, that not really joke. You be careful, my friends!

Like I say, afterlife not bad at all! I float around when I'm alive, I float around when I'm dead! Not much difference! But I don't have to work any more!

OK, that's it for now, my friends! You think about me when you can! Hello! See you bye!