Surprise!

[Gusington]

103k feet for an F15...wow! That's like space shuttle territory.

[Tripoli]

103k feet for an F15...wow! That's like space shuttle territory.

That's only 19.5 miles.  Only 40% of the way to space.  Alan Shepard's sub-orbital flight max'd out at 116 miles altitude.

[Staggerwing]

Yeah, the ISS is like 225 miles up.

[Gusington]

Yeah but Alan Shephard, as you said, was sub-orbital!

[Sir Slash]

My sources tell me that there was in fact a second Chinese balloon and they were supposed to link-up and form a giant buttocks to float across America. With the letters, 'FU' painted on them. Well that's what they told me.   

[steve58]

My sources tell me that there was in fact a second Chinese balloon and they were supposed to link-up and form a giant buttocks to float across America. With the letters, 'FU' painted on them. Well that's what they told me.   

Apparently there is another, but its Latinxo

The U.S. government says another Chinese spy balloon is traveling over Latin America.

"We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America," Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Fox News Friday night. "We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pentagon-another-chinese-spy-balloon-traveling-over-latin-america

[Tripoli]

A little more gist for the intelligence mill: According to pilot reports, the balloon was flying at 50,000 feet near Kansas City (Incidentally, that would put it invic Fort Leavenworth).  So it is flying much lower than I thought it was, and is within the reach of F-15.  "Guns, Guns, Guns....."  https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article272085162.html

[solops]

The balloon would make a wonderful delivery platform for chemical or biological agents. Also, during WWII the Japanese floated paper balloons from Japan over to the Pacific NW with incendiary devices attached in an attempt to set the forests on fire. A few actually made it and some were recovered.

[JasonPratt]

The balloons necessarily change altitude a lot (whether by computer, or by direct signal), in order to follow general paths, according to changing weather conditions.

The main one, by the way, could have changed direction overnight to cross West TN more directly, heading for a sensitive site in Georgia which would confirm a trifecta intentional visit (though for what purposes would not be clear) over certain related sites. 3 hours ago it was over Fairview NC.

So this projection from last night doesn't seem anywhere near correct:



But this projection from yesterday earlier looks spot-on for the win:

[JasonPratt]

The balloon would make a wonderful delivery platform for chemical or biological agents. Also, during WWII the Japanese floated paper balloons from Japan over to the Pacific NW with incendiary devices attached in an attempt to set the forests on fire. A few actually made it and some were recovered.

While I knew that, I learned from someone's twitter thread posted earlier (the Brynn one?) that a few people actually died from those incendiaries although our government hushed it up.

[JasonPratt]

http://www.empcommission.org/docs/empc_exec_rpt.pdf

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg45133/pdf/CHRG-110hhrg45133.pdf

The short version is that 90% of US urban population would die from indirect results of an EMP stratosphere attack over the central US (e.g. Nebraska). Only 80% mortality in rural areas.   

(Hat-tip to the Epoch Times for linking to the docs.)

The balloons we've been seeing wouldn't be high enough for one EMP to zorch the grid, but of course they're sending several around.

[steve58]

So now maybe US is going to shoot the balloon down...over the Atlantic.

The U.S. is considering a plan to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon once it crosses over the Atlantic Ocean, where it could fall without causing harm to anyone below and potentially be recovered, a senior U.S. official told Fox News.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-weighing-decision-shoot-down-chinese-spy-balloon-atlantic-ocean-official-tells-fox-news

[GDS_Starfury]

USAF F-22s FRANK01 & 02 launched from Langley AFB, VA joining up with KC-135R #AE04B3 57-1473 GASMN02 for aerial refueling.
The FAA has published *RESTRICTED AIRSPACE to 60,000 feet* for parts of the Carolinas and is "pausing departures" to Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, and Charleston airports "to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort." More to come.

[GDS_Starfury]

[Tripoli]

The NCA is acting like a bunch of Keystone Cops.  We could have shot it down in the Bearing Strait, over Alaska, or over Canada before it accomplished anything and then collected the debris for analysis and embarrassing the PRC, and sending them the bill for our expenses.    Instead, we let it drift over the US doing collection (which is, I am sure, uplinked Real Time) and embarrassing us in front of the whole world.    Only after the NCA has proven beyond all doubt what a bunch of clowns they are, do they even begin to act like they might shoot it down.  Probably not even then, as the EPA won't have yet done an analysis on the projected impact on the humpback whale population off Cape Fear.....

One more thought: After watching this $hit show of national security navel gazing, who has confidence this group of yahoos would go toe-to-toe with the PLAN over Taiwan?  Of course that may have been the entire point of the exercise.....

One more thought: What is the back up plan if the PRC orders this to 100,000 feet once it goes feet wet?