China has spy sattelites that can do what this balloon supposedly can, and that's why the US isn't shooting it down. What a load of crap. 1) the US would shoot it down anyway 2) why would China send a balloon when they have sattelites?
The conclusion drawn must be that it's either not Chinese, or not a spy balloon, or most probably not either.
[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/05/u-s-militarys-newes...
Satellites have predictable orbits and are otherwise tracked, but a stealthy balloon might go unnoticed and manage to surveil sites that don’t mask their sensitive activities when they think the sky is currently clear. It’s possible that the ballon is performing signals intelligence gathering, or something else satellites at altitude can’t do.
Also, the perception (true or otherwise) that the US is not fully able to control its national airspace is something China can make propaganda out of.
There's simply no way one could ever be hidden from radar. So 'stealthy balloons' do not exist.
If you can make a B2 bomber stealthy then perhaps you can do the same with a balloon - the bags are thin polythene [1] and I assume you could combine geometry and radar absorbing material to make a payload disappear.
If it were that obviously visible why wasn’t it intercepted when it crossed into America’s air defence identification zone?
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/scientific-balloons/types-of-balloons
It wouldn't be magical for one to accidentally end up basically anywhere.
>Why do people suspect it's a spy balloon? No reasons are given in the article. Even if it did come from China, it could be nothing more than a mere scientific weather balloon. This smells like propaganda.