Sunday, February 05, 2023

US fighter jet shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon with missile


MM Online:

US fighter jet shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon with missile




A jet flies by a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it floats off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina February 4, 2023. — Reuters pic

Sunday, 05 Feb 2023 8:21 AM MYT



SURFSIDE BEACH (United States), Feb 5 — A US military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina yesterday, a week after it entered US airspace and triggered a dramatic — and public — spying saga that worsened Sino-US relations.


President Joe Biden said he had issued an order on Wednesday to take down the balloon, but the Pentagon had recommended waiting until it could be done over open water to safeguard civilians from debris crashing to Earth from thousands of feet (metres) above commercial air traffic.

“They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it,” Biden said.


Multiple fighter and refueling aircraft were involved in the mission, but only one — an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia — took the shot at 2.39pm (1939 GMT/3.39pm Malaysian time), using a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile, a senior US military official said.


kt notes: For a non-heat emitting balloon???

😂😂😂 

 
The balloon was shot down about six nautical miles off the US coast, over relatively shallow water, potentially aiding efforts to recover elements of the Chinese surveillance equipment in the coming days, officials said.

The shootdown came shortly after the US government ordered a halt to flights in and out of three regional airports — Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston — due to what it said at the time was an undisclosed “national security effort.” The flights resumed yesterday afternoon.

While yesterday’s shootdown concludes the military dimension to the spying saga, Biden is likely to continue to face intense political scrutiny from Republican opponents in Congress who argue he failed to act quickly enough.

Questions also remain about how much information China may have gathered during the balloon’s trek across the United States.

The balloon first entered US airspace in Alaska on January 28 before moving into Canadian airspace on Monday Jan 30. It then re-entered US airspace over northern Idaho on January 31, a US defence official said. Once it crossed over US land, it did not return to the open waters, making a shootdown difficult.

US officials did not publicly disclose the balloon’s presence over the United States until Thursday.

“It’s clear the Biden administration had hoped to hide this national security failure from Congress and the American people,” said US Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican who leads the House Armed Services Committee.



The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina February 4, 2023. — Reuters pic



Biden’s emphasis yesterday that — days ago — he ordered the balloon shot down as soon as possible could be an effort to respond to such critics.

Former President Donald Trump, Biden’s potential rival in the 2024 election, called earlier this week for the balloon to be shot down, and has sought to portray himself as stronger than Biden on China. The US relationship with China is likely to be a major theme of the 2024 presidential race.

Washington had called the balloon’s appearance a “clear violation” of US sovereignty and notified Beijing about the shootdown yesterday, a US official said.

Still, officials yesterday appeared play down the balloon’s impact on US national security.

“Our assessment — and we’re going to learn more as we pick up the debris — was that it was not likely to provide significant additive value over and above other (Chinese) intel capability, such as satellites in low-Earth orbit,” the senior US defence official said.

A Reuters photographer who witnessed the shootdown said a stream came from a jet and hit the balloon, but there was no explosion. It then began to fall.

China expressed regret that an “airship” used for civilian meteorological and other scientific purposes had strayed into US airspace.

China’s foreign ministry said yesterday that the flight of the airship over the United States was a force majeure accident, and accused US politicians and media of taking advantage of the situation to discredit Beijing.

The Pentagon assesses that this balloon was part of a fleet of Chinese spy balloons. On Friday, it said another Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America.

“Over the past several years, Chinese balloons have previously been spotted over countries across five continents, including in East Asia, South Asia and Europe,” the US official said.

The suspected spy balloon prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to China this week that had been expected to start on Friday.

The postponement of Blinken’s trip, which had been agreed to in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, was a blow to those who saw it as an overdue opportunity to stabilise an increasingly fractious relationship between the two countries.

China is keen for a stable US relationship so it can focus on its economy, battered by the now-abandoned zero-Covid policy and neglected by foreign investors alarmed by what they see as a return of state intervention in the market. — Reuters

9 comments:

  1. "kt notes: For a non-heat emitting balloon???"

    The AIM-9X is capable of locking on to a target aircraft from the front -no need to chase a jet tailpipe. That's how dangerous an adversary it is...

    Perfectly feasible that the balloon is sufficiently warmer than its surroundings for a lock on.

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    Replies
    1. Wakakakaka…

      "that the balloon is sufficiently warmer than its surroundings"

      ??!!

      That balloon is filled with helium gas!

      Know-nothing mfer, what's the boiling point of helium & what's the temperature at altitude 60k+?

      BTW, check how high can F22 climbs upward. How much is AIM-9X a pop? Excluding too the cost of the jet fuel (refilled twice, if u believed the Yankee fart) vis-a-vis a less than RMB 10k balloon!

      Delete
    2. Communist Motherfucker,
      The boiling point of helium is irrelevant to this case.
      It was daytime, the balloon would have absorbed heat from the sun, easily warmer than the surrounding air , which is about -60 C at that altitude..
      The China spy balloon total package would have run into many
      millions, jammed full of intelligence collection electronics, huge solar panels. Even the balloon itself, so huge that it could lift such a heavy paylod, and able to survive for weeks or even months in the hostile athmosphere at 60,000 feet would have been expensively made.
      Only an idiot like you thinks this is like a party balloon.

      Delete
    3. I read the US fired 3 shots, 2 missed by miles, so much for "That's how dangerous an adversary it is"

      Delete
    4. Wakakakaka…

      Calling u a know-nothing is just giving u face!

      That balloon was airborned with the help of helium. Thus stabilization of the ambient temperatures between the the inner & outer wall of the balloon kept remaining at the stratosphere. If the balloon was hotter than its surrounding then it would keep rising until itself bursted via internal pressurization at near space vacuum.

      How much that China meteorological balloon cost & its contents would be easily made known if the Yank have finally open themselves up about their 'analysis'!

      BTW, have it ever come to yr mind that the US military intelligence would be so naive/lost/incompetent to allow a true spying airborne craft loitering around it's airspace for several days before making a decision to take it out?

      How about ROI cost/political justification/military capability in attacking a cheapskate?

      Delete
    5. Communist Motherfucker obviously doesn't understand basic secondary school physics.
      A balloon floats in the air.
      If it is slightly warmer than its surroundings, it will rise. However, as it rises into even thinner surrounding air, the amount of buoyancy falls until the balloon stops rising any further.
      Idiots still think the AIM-9X is a 1950s style heat-seaking missile. The AIM-9X missile can lock on to a target from any direction.
      The take down of the China Spy Balloon was has been captured on numerous mobile phone videos posted on Tik-Tok ..wakakaka... 1 shot -1 kill ...To the frustration of the China spies who no doubt monitor Tik-Tok data 24x7

      Delete
    6. So u know buoyancy!

      What causes buoyancy of an airborne object?

      Do tell.

      Not that mambo Jambo of "rises into even thinner surrounding air, the amount of buoyancy falls until the balloon stops rising any further"!

      How about equilibrium of air pressure between internal & external air of the balloon enclosure?

      & what is maintaining the stability of that pressure?

      How about the temperature of the surrounding ambient air vis-a-vis the helium temperature inside the balloon?

      Thus, if the balloon floats at the stratosphere - meaning not rising upwards anymore - then the balloon's overall temperature must be the same as the ambient air at that altitude.

      Wakakakaka… r that too much for yr know-nothing petrified neurons?

      BTW, AIM-9X missile isn't a fuel carrying rocket. It needs oxygen to fly. At the original height of 60k+, NO any missile can reach that floating object.

      Thus, yr fart of "AIM-9X missile can lock on to a target from any direction"
      can only happened at much lower altitude where the AIM-9X missile can fly & aim.

      Ooop… ain't u that mfer that raised the issue of heat-seeking targeting missile?

      Mmmmm… how many YouTube videos &/or CNN/BBC newscasts r showing that at least two firing missiles missed the balloon when it dropped to 18k+ due to 'leaching' of helium from its enclosure?

      & do Google helium leaching before u fart yr know-nothing parade AGAIN?

      Delete
  2. Wakakakaka…

    "Blinken’s trip, which had been agreed to in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping"

    When? It was NOT fixed then.

    When Washington announced the date, Beijing wasn't responding coherently in opening agree to that trip's timing.

    Up till the shooting down of the loitering balloon (wakakaka… with a heat seeking missile to fool the know-nothing), Beijing has still NOT confirming the Blinken’s announced trip!

    This balloon saga is a face saving guff for Blinken’s ego.

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  3. So do you suspect that Biden's authority is in danger? I think so due to failure to recognize the balloon over the US.

    ReplyDelete