F-22 Safely Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon Off South Carolina Coast [.mil website- New source]

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article/3288599/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/ ^ | 2/4/2023 | Jim Garamone

[Blueflag]

That to me is the real threat: the ability to drop a physical payload (or several) of a bio-weapon, or even something persistent like Plutonium (and similar).

Kill crops, livestock, people and deny the area for use for years.

[FlingWingFlyer]

It took thousands of Chinamen to blow it up but only one AMERICAN F-22 Raptor to knock it down.

[maddog55]

Exactly... And the whole “we’re adjusting our radars to pick these up” is pure BS.

[GingisK]

Don’t forget your high altitude gear.

[GingisK]

The balloon itself was most like invisible to radar. Radar can’t see anything that it can pass through without reflections.

[nuconvert]

We learned yesterday that it was tracked by our military off Guam and knew exactly when it left China, so it wasn’t invisible.

[GingisK]

The balloon itself is probably invisible; however, NORAD once claimed that it could spot something the size of a .22 caliber bullet coming over the horizon.

[nuconvert]

I think the point is, they saw it waaaay before it got to Alaska.

[GingisK]

Yeah, I am sure they did. They probably have an agreement that allows them to do so. That is why Biden let it pass unmolested across the entire Nation. The more recent ones are for show.