Surprise!

[Sir Slash]

I will drink to the Right to be sanctimonious anytime.    BTW Sooner, I hope you get over your sinus infection quick, they can be a real bitch.

[GDS_Starfury]

how much elint data can the air force suck out of this thing?

from the top of page 2. 

[GDS_Starfury]

I will drink to the Right to be sanctimonious anytime.

obviously

[GDS_Starfury]

https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1623739437774503937?t=WkyvRFDjnkvtzeQj4RXFPA&s=19

so Mitt is satisfied the right thing was done.  meanwhile unhinged marge was screaming profanities at the Pentagon briefers because she's got the iq of a crayon.

[Sir Slash]

But Mitt is a racist remember? Why should we listen to him?  BTW, Clearly political, just saying. 

[steve58]

Another balloon?/"high altitude object" shot down over Alaskan waters.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/u-s-military-shoots-down-object-flying-territorial-waters-over-alaska

"much, much smaller than the spy balloon that we took down last Saturday"

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/madelineleesman/2023/02/10/kjp-briefing-n2619427

[W8taminute]

Nice to see we reacted immediately.

[JasonPratt]

And can hit a smaller object no problem.

[steve58]

And can hit a smaller object no problem.

This one was apparently much lower, 40,000+ feet.  Wonder if it was another missile shot or guns?

[JasonPratt]

Most of the debris from the Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. military last week is still lying in the ocean.

The FBI has so far recovered very limited physical evidence from the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, and senior FBI officials said that the bureau had not yet retrieved enough information from the debris to assess the balloon's capabilities.

"It's very early for us in this process, and the evidence that has been recovered and brought to the FBI is extremely limited," one official said during a Feb. 9 press briefing.

Eric Pokorak, assistant director of the FBI's Laboratory Division, said that was too early in the investigation to determine the intent and capabilities of the balloon.

Pokorak described the debris field as a "large-scale scene" and said that weather conditions "may impact" evidence collection and the transportation of recovered items in the coming days.

Michael Paul, assistant director of the bureau's Operational and Technology Division (OTD), said that the FBI did not have access to most of the airship's payload, where its onboard electronics would have been carried, and that most of the superstructure remained under water.

"We have not seen the payload where we expect to see the lion's share of the electronics," Paul said.

"OTD deployed specialists to assist with screening and to specifically assess electronic components that might be recovered during the operation."

Still, the officials said, agents were working to decontaminate and identify those components that had been recovered, which thus far mostly consist of some wiring and a small amount of electronics.

{snipping past some previous information}

Paul said that the FBI had not found any evidence that this balloon carried {a potential EMP or other offensive} payload, however.

"We have not identified any sort of any energetic or offensive material," he said.

Earlier in the day a State Department spokesperson said that the company responsible for manufacturing the balloons for China's spy program was directly connected to the Chinese military.

The FBI officials said they did not yet have information on where the balloon components were manufactured, but that the evidence when recovered could be used for intelligence purposes or criminal charges.

The "criminal charges" refers to previously released information that an unspecified American manufacturer contributed a lot to the balloon in selling directly to the CCP.

[JasonPratt]

And can hit a smaller object no problem.

This one was apparently much lower, 40,000+ feet.  Wonder if it was another missile shot or guns?

Article just came through; excerpted:

The United States shot down an unknown flying object off the coast of Alaska on Feb. 10, according to the White House. The move came less than a week after the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the country's east coast.

The object was flying at 40,000 feet and had traveled inside U.S. airspace over territorial waters off the northern coast of Alaska, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at Friday afternoon press briefing.

An F-22 jet fired a single Sidewinder missile to take down the object at 1:45 p.m. ET, Ryder said. This was the same type of missile used to take down the Chinese spy balloon last weekend.

Earlier in the afternoon, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the Pentagon was tracking a "high-altitude object over Alaska airspace in the last 24 hours."

It was spotted yesterday, and President Joe Biden was briefed on the matter "as soon" as the object was tracked, Kirby said. Biden then ordered its shootdown this morning after the object was assessed as presenting a reasonable threat to the "safety of civilian flight."

"The president will always act in the interests of the American people and national security," he said.

Earlier in the day, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a no-fly warning over Alaska to allow for defense operations, which the FAA has since confirmed was to support the military operation.

Kirby described the device as an "object," saying, "I am not classifying it as a balloon right now," while Ryder said the object was different in size and shape from a balloon.

The object was about the size of a small car, and did not appear to have maneuverable capability, in contrast with last week's Chinese spy balloon that possessed the ability to move independently within the jetstream.

"It did not appear to have the ability to independently maneuver," Kirby said.

Ryder said the object was unmanned, adding he couldn't yet verify the object's speed of travel.

The origin of the object is currently unknown, according to the officials.

"We just don't know what this object was. It would be difficult for me to point to a threat ... when we just don't know what this object was doing," Kirby said.

Ryder confirmed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has not reached out to the Chinese on this latest incident.

The downed objected landed on frozen water, meaning it'd be easier to recover debris, according to Kirby.

Washington is working to learn more and improve its own detection capabilities, Kirby added.

"I think we're going to continue to learn a lot about how these things are or can be detected in a better way," he said.

So, a Sidewinder missile -- that's heat seeking of course (unless they have laser guidance now) -- against an object with no independent maneuverability. That's weird; not the missile, that's just safe to protect the pilot at standoff distance from the object perhaps exploding. But if it isn't confirmed as a balloon, and if it doesn't have maneuver capability, what was it doing in Alaskan airspace for 24 hours? How did it even stay there?

[GDS_Starfury]

the Aim-9x is not strictly heat seaking.
I'm wondering why it's the FBI doing the investigation.

[JasonPratt]

Yeah, I've been wondering about that, too. Lord knows there's enough alphabet groups in the US which might have justification, but exactly why them?

My tentative guess is connected with that last bit of the article I quoted: our government has evidently known for some time (not sure how long, but longer than the balloon arrived in the Lower 48) that some company has been selling China hostile tech knowing it will be probably used against the US and our allies, specifically in those balloons. That final phrase "criminal charges" probably tells us why the FBI per se is leading the run: the CIA and NSA (to pull two other plausible investigators for recovery lead) would only be adjuncts to a criminal prosecution.

[GDS_Starfury]

so the FBI goes the civilian road and DIA and CIA play with the actual tech.

[W8taminute]

Another balloon shot down over Canada.  Looks like Trudeau gave permission for US aircraft to take it down.  Meanwhile Xi is mocking Biden for using fighter jets to shoot down balloons. 

What a bunch of children running this planet.