Military says high-altitude balloon detected over Western U.S. doesn't pose a threat
www.cbsnews.com
The U.S. is tracking a small, high-altitude balloon that is drifting across the country but poses no threat to national security, the military said Friday.

First as farce, then again as farce

  • LeninsBeard [he/him]34•3 months ago

    I love how they admit the previous balloon didn't send data to China and STILL CALL IT A FUCKING SPY BALLOON john-agony

    • Rom [he/him]8•3 months ago

      They're spying on our weather angery

  • sovietknuckles [they/them]27•3 months ago

    The developments come one year after tensions between the U.S. and China ratcheted to new heights after a Chinese balloon carrying sophisticated spying equipment flew over the continental U.S. for several days.

    Even a year later, they haven't abandoned the narrative that it was designed to intercept valuable US intel, such as the weather

  • @robinn_IV23•3 months ago

    This balloon will be Iran-backed to stay trendy.

  • barrbaric [he/him]22•3 months ago

    Okay sure the last one wasn't a spy balloon but this one could be! Scramble the jets!

    • CloutAtlas [he/him]25•3 months ago

      Continuously releasing high altitude balloons to bankrupt the USA is praxis.

      • SkingradGuard [he/him]10•3 months ago

        How cheap is it to get those balloons? The last time this happened they also shot down a bunch of hobbyist balloons. We could deploy a fleet of them, it would be very funny

        • 0x0520 [he/him]15•3 months ago

          Hobbyist balloons are rather cheap. The smallest are a couple feet across and cost under $10. A typical weather balloon is around 20 feet in diameter and costs about $100.

          Compare to the millions it costs to track an object, deploy fighter jets, pay for missiles to shoot one down and one has an impressive guerrilla operation.

          https://www.scientificsales.com/Meteorological-Weather-Sounding-Balloon-s/25.htm

            • 0x0520 [he/him]4•3 months ago

              More expensive than the balloon, but not outrageous. The amount of gas needed is a function of payload size and ascent rate but 3400l would carry a 1kg payload to ~35km over about 2hr before bursting (based on a calculator I found).

              It was tough to find pricing for helium, but one place had prices listed and would run about $350 for the gas. Assuming that's normal pricing, one could hoist a little Lenin statue to high altitude for around $500 all in.

              • SkingradGuard [he/him]6•3 months ago

                New bit idea: fundraise enough for a fleet with a big picture of Lenin sprayed onto the exterior of the balloons. Have them all continuously fly over the US mainland on the air currents. Ensuing chaos will be chefs-kiss

                • zkrzsz [he/him]1•3 months ago

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHwAPy1pWhI with baloons

  • GinAndJuche [comrade/them]M17•3 months ago

    Link to the other post so both discussions can be viewed

    It’s really hilarious if they shoot this down again

    • SSJ2Marx [he/him]12•3 months ago

      The repost detector didn't show me that thread, ah well.

      • GinAndJuche [comrade/them]M10•3 months ago

        No worries, it only shows up if you have like the exact same link/title based on my experience.

        The article is slightly different anyways, might prompt different discussion