And of course it's off the coast of South Carolina, so the "sensor package" will fall into the water, and likely be "unrecoverable." That way they can still claim it "came from China" and nobody can prove any different.
This is not the sort of hot potato you just shoot down if you know a goddamn thing about anything.
If I was watching this thing I'd quickly realize it is a spy balloon of some sort and then scramble some AWACS to monitor the shit out of what the hell it is doing and where it is sending it's info.
I get satellite codes, capture the data to analyze the encryption they use and make sure it doesn't go over anything important. I look at the frequencies they are using to transmit and just basically observe this new beast to learn from it... No cost.
Now... If I shoot it down immediately I get nothing but a diplomatic headache with china. Fuck that...
Monitor it... Wait until you have plausible deniability for losing it... And then take it out and very quietly recover it and analyze it.
You don't throw temper tantrums with super powers you silly faggot. You also collect Intel on new weapons if you can.
BoomerChristCuckFinalForm -5 points 1.3 years ago
Now now now...
This is not the sort of hot potato you just shoot down if you know a goddamn thing about anything.
If I was watching this thing I'd quickly realize it is a spy balloon of some sort and then scramble some AWACS to monitor the shit out of what the hell it is doing and where it is sending it's info.
I get satellite codes, capture the data to analyze the encryption they use and make sure it doesn't go over anything important. I look at the frequencies they are using to transmit and just basically observe this new beast to learn from it... No cost.
Now... If I shoot it down immediately I get nothing but a diplomatic headache with china. Fuck that...
Monitor it... Wait until you have plausible deniability for losing it... And then take it out and very quietly recover it and analyze it.
You don't throw temper tantrums with super powers you silly faggot. You also collect Intel on new weapons if you can.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_early_warning_and_control