Jump to content

China & Chinese Shenanigans


Marlboro BLACK

Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, Smokin said:

We just spent 1000x as much money shooting down the balloon as China spent launching it.  If I were them, I'd launch 20 next week and just watch us waste missiles, flight hours, etc.

 

 

Don't do the math on how much money we spent killing a dude in a mud hut in the middle of nowhere Afghanistan. 

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, brabus said:

9x makes complete sense. 

Because of the gun door limitation? 

I would have wanted to capture and exploit as much of the payload as possible and hit only the balloon, not that a fall from 60K was going to protect the payload but 20 pounds of WDU-17/B warnugget slinging 200 titanium rods probably made a mess of things.

Stand by for Block 45 ultra high alt mod.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Smokin said:

We just spent 1000x as much money shooting down the balloon as China spent launching it.  If I were them, I'd launch 20 next week and just watch us waste missiles, flight hours, etc.

When it comes to waste, I’m pretty sure China thinks the US can waste plenty on its own.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/congress-1-7-trillion-spending-bill-includes-millions-gender-equity-climate-initiatives

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Because of the gun door limitation? 

I would have wanted to capture and exploit as much of the payload as possible and hit only the balloon, not that a fall from 60K was going to protect the payload but 20 pounds of WDU-17/B warnugget slinging 200 titanium rods probably made a mess of things.

Stand by for Block 45 ultra high alt mod.

Put a few 20mm holes through it and it still drifts quite a ways (international waters complicates recovery), get closer and you give it potentially more chance to capture data from the F-22, and gunning an object going that slow is incredibly difficult with low probability of success and increased risk of midair (and at 60K I can’t even imagine, even in a raptor).

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, brabus said:

Put a few 20mm holes through it and it still drifts quite a ways (international waters complicates recovery), get closer and you give it potentially more chance to capture data from the F-22, and gunning an object going that slow is incredibly difficult with low probability of success and increased risk of midair (and at 60K I can’t even imagine, even in a raptor).

This method was attempted and failed back in 1998 for a very large-stray weather balloon.

When a Weather Balloon Went Rogue Two Decades Ago, Fighter Jets Fired at It but Couldn't Bring It Down | Military.com

'Almost 25 years ago, a large runaway weather balloon proved to be quite challenge a for a pair of fighter jets trying to shoot it down, staying in the air even after more than 1,000 rounds were fired at it. The Balloon passed across Canada, over the Atlantic Ocean, and through British airspace before entering Iceland's airspace and then drifting northward.'

'Two Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter aircraft spotted the balloon over Newfoundland and fired more than 1,000 rounds at it. The AP reported that the jets, Canadian variants of the American F/A-18 Hornet, hit the balloon, but rather than popping or exploding and crashing to the earth, it slowly began leaking helium. The big balloon was still in the air. The balloon, BBC reported, also survived encounters with British and American aircraft.'

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recreation with actual comms from the shootdown. 

9 hours ago, brabus said:

Put a few 20mm holes through it and it still drifts quite a ways (international waters complicates recovery), get closer and you give it potentially more chance to capture data from the F-22, and gunning an object going that slow is incredibly difficult with low probability of success and increased risk of midair (and at 60K I can’t even imagine, even in a raptor).

Frank Luke did it....16 times.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, SocialD said:

Don't do the math on how much money we spent killing a dude in a mud hut in the middle of nowhere Afghanistan.

It's so mind boggling absurd that its embarrassing.  And we're eager it seems to start it up again in Ukraine.  Here we go again.  Pentagon generals:  we're making progress.  Here we go...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

APKWS future balloon buster?  Maybe make a few with less explosive to get a slower decent rate to examine all the stuff inside.  Or even one with a parachute instead of a warhead that deploys when the rocket burns out.  Just to punch a couple 2.75" holes in it over land and let the thing slowly descend.  Almost no risk to US citizens and we get the balloon intact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:

Recreation with actual comms from the shootdown. 

Frank Luke did it....16 times.

Yeah, totally comparable situation (/s). Not to say the history tie isn’t cool in a way, but let’s not pretend this is the same thing. Reference Waveshapper’s post - that’s how this would have likely turned out, and that’s not me giving any shit to the raptor bros. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

I volunteer to down a balloon with an AGM-114R9X.

Ninjy stars!

Not sure what that has to with this topic but that is one of the funniest videos ever 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, arg said:

Not sure what that has to with this topic but that is one of the funniest videos ever 

Agreed! Diamond Dave is a legend. I casually use several phrases from that video in normal conversation and it's funny when some young zoomer kid who hasn't seen it looks at me like, "WTF are you talking about?"

Relevant because the R9X has some ninjy-swords that pop out and cut things to pieces at impact vice exploding. Sounds about perfect for separating a payload from a sneaky Chicom balloon.

Now I just gotta figure out how to get my Reaper up to FL 690 to take the shot...

Edited by nsplayr
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, disgruntledemployee said:

You do know that when we recover and pop open the payload, it'll just be a fart gassing glitterbomb.  Joke's on us.

Finding a little strip of paper with a future prediction or words of wisdom like in a fortune cookie would be hysterical. "Classified documents not in safe not safe."

  • Like 1
  • Haha 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, TreeA10 said:

Finding a little strip of paper with a future prediction or words of wisdom like in a fortune cookie would be hysterical. "Classified documents not in safe not safe."

Ancient Chinese Proverb: Where are your tanks, and may I count them? 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/5/2023 at 8:00 PM, nsplayr said:

Agreed! Diamond Dave is a legend. I casually use several phrases from that video in normal conversation and it's funny when some young zoomer kid who hasn't seen it looks at me like, "WTF are you talking about?"

Don’t go a ninjain’ nuthin’ that don’t need ninjain’

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...