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A comment on US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada. Parent comment

Re:US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada by throwaway4good on Saturday February 11, 2023 @06:22PM (#34757511)
It was a weather balloon and the US has gone mad.
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Re:US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada by mastax on Saturday February 11, 2023 @07:04PM (#34757868)
From what I understand:

- the balloon was required to file a flight plan or have an ADS-B transponder

- the balloon did not file a flight plan or have an ADS-B transponder

So either the balloon's operator didn't know about the requirements, which seems unlikely given its apparent sophistication, or the operator was deliberately hiding the presence of the balloon, in which case I think it's reasonable to call it a spy balloon.

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Re:US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada by irthomasthomas on Sunday February 12, 2023 @06:02AM (#34761898)
Looking on from UK this all seems like a big joke. Slow moving, massive balloons, visible for hundreds of miles are sophisticated spying apparatus? But all the previous encounters over the years have just been unremarkable weather balloons?
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Re:US aircraft shoots down new airborne object over Canada by chipsa on Saturday February 11, 2023 @07:54PM (#34758223)
A weather balloon is a couple pounds at most.
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