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A comment on U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance balloon. Parent comment

Re:U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance ... by mc32 on Saturday February 04, 2023 @07:10PM (#34659974)
It seems more likely that the balloon being visible forced the gov to acknowledge the balloon. It's unclear if that had any effect on the decision of when to shoot it down. Apparently they had been tracking it over the Aleutians, so they could have downed it over the Pacific, if they hadn't pussyfooted it.
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Re:U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance ... by sandworm101 on Saturday February 04, 2023 @07:21PM (#34660080)
But would you want to go recover it in the alaskan wilderness, possibly on a mountain, in winter? They waited until it got somewhere more convenient.
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Re:U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance ... by beedeebeedee on Saturday February 04, 2023 @08:57PM (#34660826)
I don't think they are really that interested in recovering it- if you look at the photos, they targeted the payload instead of just the balloon. Only going to be litte bits leftover. https://news.usni.org/2023/02/04/3-navy-warships-fbi-now-hun...
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Re:U.S. military shoots down suspected Chinese surveillance ... by sandworm101 on Saturday February 04, 2023 @09:09PM (#34660917)
They hit it with a sidewinder, which has a warhead more akin to a shotgun blast. Nothing will be totally destroyed. Enough will remain of its various sensors and antennas to tell exactly what it was doing.
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