Comments by "vk2ig" (@vk2ig) on "US shoots down Chinese spy balloon | DW News" video.

MBGA!!!! Make Balloons Great Again!
3
@sk-be8tc A sniper shooting to 60,000 feet? That's 11.4 miles straight up! And they would need to know about the wind speeds and directions along the bullets trajectory. I know you guys have the 2nd Amendment and all, but that's quite an ask!
3
The envelope was destroyed. The payload wasn't -:you can see it in the video. Sure, the payload would've been damaged upon impacting the water, but that won't stop the intelligence agencies learning a lot about what the balloon was doing and what it can do.
3
@ehombane It was 60,000 feet up. The electronics will be fine - they'll be recovered within a few days, cleaned off and dried (it's a lot more involved than I am saying here), and it's not hard to restore that if it's just to be powered up to see what it did.
2
It was being controlled by AI, thus it could change altitude to take advantage of favourable winds.
2
Not in a mere 14m depth of water it won't.
2
@nix123ism 60,000 feet altitude is still within a country's airspace. Space doesn't start until the Karman Limit which is about 5 times that height.
2
@juanzamarripa3778 Correct, but it's not going to be sitting in the ocean for months let alone weeks. It landed in water only 14m deep - it's not exactly irrecoverable.
2
While the neighbour collects the evidence required for you to sue them out of their house. It's obvious that this whole thing was managed for international political gain. It's amazing how people don't get that.
2
In which case the PRC doesn't know how early the USA could have zapped this balloon. So that aspect of the mission would have failed. If the PRC's mission was to increase the amount of invective and hate the American people launch at each other nowadays, then the mission succeeded admirably.
1
@forkborking7 Yes, it does go wherever the wind blows it. But plenty of media reports are citing experts saying this thing is controlled by AI so that it changes altitude to capture favourable winds. That way it can increase its loiter time over areas of interest.
1
@blizzunt420e Biden should have ordered it to be shot down when it crossed into Alaska, and if not then when it crossed into Montana - after all, they're both Red states, so it's not like he would be endangering his supporters at all.
1
Skydivers at 60,000 feet altitude ... really?
1
@ngheanchoong spy plain? Is that like a spy mountain, or spy self-raising?
1
Andrew Chen I think it would be better and safer if everyone returned to the trade position of the Cold War - no trade between the West and the Communist Bloc. That way no-one gets upset over trade.
1
@frankieli98 14m deep and just off the Carolinas - not-so-big water.
1
It would have done most of the deploying over the Red states ... go figure.
1
@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music Yep. There are reports of a balloon transiting the northern parts of South America yesterday.
1
And the Japanese actually succeeded in doing so during WW2.
1
Pretty good actually. It lets the USA understand what it was doing and how it flew (it must be using AI given the way it behaved), it let them bring it down in shallow water inside their territorial waters so they can recover the pieces and study it, and it let the USA milk the international political scene for all it's worth. Not a bad effort at all - sounds like a strategic victory.
1
@John Brower Many Americans (i.e. USA citizens) don't actually know where their country starts and ends. Many of them believe that the US Constitution has worldwide jurisdiction, and are shocked to learn that US laws don't apply everywhere.
1
No-one was onboard it.
1
No more ridiculous than the Cold War. Too many people have gone soft since the dissolution of the USSR.
1
@zvast A small hole in that sort of balloon material rapidly becomes a big hole. That's the problem with balloons - they're quite strong while air-tight integrity is maintained, but once the envelope is breached it's game over.
1
@glbwoodsbum2567 So the newspaper reports are saying it landed in water with depth of 14m. And that the USN had ships in the area ready to recover the payload before the F-22 shot down the balloon. Are you saying this isn't the case! If so, would you like to tell everyone where you think it landed?
1
Or a plague virus, e.g. anthrax, bubonic plague, etc.
1
@charlesm7589 While I agree with you, it's not too hard to know how many weather balloons are released by civilian authorities every day. The National Weather Service can tell you that. This Chinese balloon is much, much bigger than the typical weather balloon carrying a radiosonde, though.
1
Wrong. It crossed into US territory in Alaska, then crossed into Canada (which ISN'T part of the USA), then re-entered US territory in Montana. Please stop texting and try to keep up at the back!
1
@steventhacker350 Really? This latest balloon at 60,000 feet cannot take more detailed photographs than a low Earth orbit satellite at more than 180 miles orbital height? That's the same as saying a camera 32 feet distant from an object can take as detailed pictures as one only 2 feet from the object.
1
How would you do that at 60,000 feet altitude?
1
@mtwata Or "We gotta get those WMDs!" ... which really means "Psssst - we gotta get the oil!"
1
Anthrax, Bubonic Plague. I wonder what the "Let's go, Brandon!" types would have said if the balloon had been shot down over Alaska or Montana - after all, they're Red states and it wouldn't have damaged Biden's voter support base.
1
@jamesm568 Do you work in intelligence gathering, or are you merely an armchair quarterback on this issue? If the latter, then why is your opinion more valid than that of others?
1
@Superior1995Rex 😂😂😂😂
1
@wumingkkk I find it funny that the Republicans wanted Biden to shoot it down earlier. Biden should have done that - after all, Alaska and Montana are Red states, so it's not like he would have damaged his voter support base if it had landed on anyone.
1