Skip to content

US officials investigating a 'large balloon' discovered in Alaska won't call it a 'spy balloon'

carolinakid

carolinakid

Joined
Oct 20, 2021
Messages
39,046
Military officials shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina last year.

Military officials shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina last year.© Provided by USA TODAY
Military officials are investigating a "large balloon and payload" discovered by fishermen off the coast of Alaska last week, the Department of Defense confirmed on Friday.

"A U.S. commercial fishing vessel recovered portions of … what appears to be a large balloon and payload caught in their nets while fishing off the coast of Alaska," Sue Gough, a spokesperson for the Defense Department, said in an email.


The agency would not characterize the balloon as a spy or surveillance device.

Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

The fishermen first reported the discovery to the Coast Guard, who asked them to hold the materiel on board until it could be collected by officials upon the boat's return to port, Gough said.

In a statement, the FBI said it was aware of debris found off the coast of Alaska by a commercial fishing vessel and assisted partners in debris recovery.

They had no further comment as of Friday afternoon.

The balloon is currently being analyzed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, around 9 miles northeast of Anchorage. Officials do not know what the balloon was doing off the coast of Alaska, but hope to learn more through an analysis of the materiel, which will be carried out by multiple agencies, Gough said.
 

sharpsquare

sharpsquare

Joined
Nov 26, 2021
Messages
3,023
I would imagine we use em and they use em and we act like we don't know its them using em and they act like they don't know its us using em even though everyone knows everyone using em.

harmony...
 

kidcudi92

kidcudi92

Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
2,862
The YF-22 was an early 90s program before introduced into the F-22

Imagine what we have now we don’t know about

Also the F-35 is a failed dogshit program but they put too much $ into it to not use it

Google skunkworks and enjoy
 

djefferis

djefferis

Joined
Jan 8, 2024
Messages
4,009
Yea - these aren’t no weather balloons.

As to the “why not just shoot it down” - well it’s a freaking blimp carrying a mobile home - so the idea of it “landing” on a school or something is kind of unappealing - look how well that recent aid drop just went for us.

As to why they (and we) are flying these things - it’s simple - you throw a satellite in the sky - aside from costing a few hundred million - they also are not exactly easily “excused” as scientific experiments. No one believes you spent a billion dollars studying weather patterns.

Throw a few of these up at a few hundred thousand - keep em low and untraceable - the world’s a big place. It hits the ocean hit self destruct one you got the info you seek and no one’s the wiser. The 1/100 that get caught - you just play dumb and remind the other side you got some of theirs too - and know neither sides media or population is gonna believe the oppositions stories.
 

kidcudi92

kidcudi92

Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
2,862
Yea - these aren’t no weather balloons.

As to the “why not just shoot it down” - well it’s a freaking blimp carrying a mobile home - so the idea of it “landing” on a school or something is kind of unappealing - look how well that recent aid drop just went for us.

As to why they (and we) are flying these things - it’s simple - you throw a satellite in the sky - aside from costing a few hundred million - they also are not exactly easily “excused” as scientific experiments. No one believes you spent a billion dollars studying weather patterns.

Throw a few of these up at a few hundred thousand - keep em low and untraceable - the world’s a big place. It hits the ocean hit self destruct one you got the info you seek and no one’s the wiser. The 1/100 that get caught - you just play dumb and remind the other side you got some of theirs too - and know neither sides media or population is gonna believe the oppositions stories.
I remember reading about the “Fu-Go” Japanese Bombs from WWII targeting the west coast
 
Top