• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

An object "the size of a small car" has been shot down over Alaska. Confirmed by Pentagon.

LordOfChaos

LordOfChaos

Member
It would be a pretty 2020-2023 thing to happen though if we got so used to popping off Chinese "weather" satellites that eventually one of them was an alien probe that got them more interested in us...


Anywho, this is a good video on why these matter, China claims they're for weather but they're outfitted with way more solar power and way more weight capacity than they'd need, enough to power a SAR (radar) for example, and can capture communications data that satellites can't. For weather balloons they sure seem to be found over missile and airforce bases a lot


 
BlackTron

BlackTron

Member
crazepharmacist said:
Hell, there are UFO’s that have technology beyond our understanding and capability based on the maneuvers we have captured them performing. If those aircraft are truly Chinese, then their level of tech is well beyond the untied states so who knows what kind of tech could be on board those balloons.
Click to expand...

Well since UFO's are confirmed to have such advanced tech, there's no telling what could be on some shitty Chinese spy balloon, right?

Some people don't get it, will never get it, and you can't do anything about it. It's insane how assertive some of them can be though, WOW.
 
IDKFA

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
BBC have switched to live reporting mode on their website as it's believed there is about to be a statement from the Pentagon and the White House.

Hopefully we'll get some concrete answers very soon. I'm not expecting anything mind blowing and honestly, I think it's been hyped too much by the media.

If it's extraterrestrial in nature then I'll chew my nuts off.
 
Kraz

Kraz

Member
QSD said:
So any balloon over the US just gets shot at? Great fun you guys must be at kids parties. Sheesh.
Click to expand...
lol. I downed my own party balloons with a bb gun for fun as child.

The one in Canada was said to be in an airtraffic lane. Wind currents may have blown it there. After the first was downed, with that configuration, investigating another makes sense. Finding an easy civil reason to shoot that one down for security curiosity to see if posture should be changed was a light touch.
 
supernova8

supernova8

Banned
IDKFA said:
AFAIK, nobody has seen any pictures of the other objects yet.
Click to expand...
If Western media outlets suddenly stop covering the story about these unidentified objects then I think that would (slightly) raise the probability that they were something unusual.

Unusual doesn't necessarily mean alien spacecraft, it could mean something more advanced than what the US or its allies have (I'm thinking China or Russia, but maybe more China considering Russia's shit performance in Ukraine). There are all kinds of wacky (at the time) technologies that came out of the military. GPS, infrared, night vision, nuclear technology, jet engines, digital photography, sonar, radar.

It's not out of this world to think that it's the Chinese this time that beat everyone to the punch in developing some new technology. Then again..... the question would become... why would they risk top-secret tech getting shot down over US territory and falling into enemy hands?

Season 8 Wow GIF by The Office

It's weird we can round and round. I can see how people end up going down a rabbit hole and ending up on infowars.
 
Last edited:
IDKFA

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
supernova8 said:
If Western media outlets suddenly stop covering the story about these unidentified objects then I think that would (slightly) raise the probability that they were something unusual.

Unusual doesn't necessarily mean alien spacecraft, it could mean something more advanced than what the US or its allies have (I'm thinking China or Russia, but maybe more China considering Russia's shit performance in Ukraine). There are all kinds of wacky (at the time) technologies that came out of the military. GPS, infrared, night vision, nuclear technology, jet engines, digital photography, sonar, radar.

It's not out of this world to think that it's the Chinese this time that beat everyone to the punch in developing some new technology.
Click to expand...

I think the recent things are just standard spy balloons. Nothing amazing.

If you're referring to the other UFO sightings, like the tictac, then I can't believe that these are from China.

If China had a huge technological advantage over the USA then they'd be singing it from the rooftops. They'd make sure the US and the rest of world knew that they were unmatched in technological military advancement. They wouldn't hide it for years. They'd make it public knowledge.
 
D

dave_d

Member
LordOfChaos said:
It would be a pretty 2020-2023 thing to happen though if we got so used to popping off Chinese "weather" satellites that eventually one of them was an alien probe that got them more interested in us...


Anywho, this is a good video on why these matter, China claims they're for weather but they're outfitted with way more solar power and way more weight capacity than they'd need, enough to power a SAR (radar) for example, and can capture communications data that satellites can't. For weather balloons they sure seem to be found over missile and airforce bases a lot


Click to expand...

Interesting, so the payload is the size of a car, not the entire balloon.(Actually that payload is the size of a truck.)
 
supernova8

supernova8

Banned
IDKFA said:
I think the recent things are just standard spy balloons. Nothing amazing.

If you're referring to the other UFO sightings, like the tictac, then I can't believe that these are from China.

If China had a huge technological advantage over the USA then they'd be singing it from the rooftops. They'd make sure the US and the rest of world knew that they were unmatched in technological military advancement. They wouldn't hide it for years. They'd make it public knowledge.
Click to expand...
I was just talking about the things that have been shot down.

I suppose invoking Occam's Razor, you're right they are probably just spy balloons.
Then again, I think the NORAD commander yesterday specifically said they're not calling it a balloon "for a reason". I can imagine politicians lying but would the NORAD commander lie like that? It would make him look like an idiot if Kirby comes out later and is like "oh yeah it was a balloon sorry guys".
 
Bragr

Bragr

Banned
supernova8 said:
I was just talking about the things that have been shot down.

I suppose invoking Occam's Razor, you're right they are probably just spy balloons.
Then again, I think the NORAD commander yesterday specifically said they're not calling it a balloon "for a reason". I can imagine politicians lying but would the NORAD commander lie like that? It would make him look like an idiot if Kirby comes out later and is like "oh yeah it was a balloon sorry guys".
Click to expand...
It's a balloon or a drone, there is no secret here. It's not weird if they grab it and see that it's a balloon after all.
 
IDKFA

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
supernova8 said:
I was just talking about the things that have been shot down.

I suppose invoking Occam's Razor, you're right they are probably just spy balloons.
Then again, I think the NORAD commander yesterday specifically said they're not calling it a balloon "for a reason". I can imagine politicians lying but would the NORAD commander lie like that? It would make him look like an idiot if Kirby comes out later and is like "oh yeah it was a balloon sorry guys".
Click to expand...

Good point. If they're not balloons then possibly some type of unmanned spy drone? I think there is a good chance that they're from China considering China is now claiming the US has sent multiple spy balloons into China, which the US is calling BS (would they say anything other than that).

Let's see what come out of the press conference in just under an hour.
 
D

DosGamer

Member
Does seem odd that within the span of 2 weeks we are seeing or hearing almost daily of there types of things. It also seems that the local govt. are more keen to light them up and take them out.
My only thing is that there is no way an alien would allow us to shoot down anything of theirs, so I have to believe its manmade drones.
 
Bragr

Bragr

Banned
DosGamer said:
Does seem odd that within the span of 2 weeks we are seeing or hearing almost daily of there types of things. It also seems that the local govt. are more keen to light them up and take them out.
My only thing is that there is no way an alien would allow us to shoot down anything of theirs, so I have to believe its manmade drones.
Click to expand...
China sent multiple drones and balloons, that's what's going on, there is probably a lot more.

That's why China is talking about how the U.S. has done the same, they are in a way admitting they sent a fleet of surveillance because they claim U.S. did so at some point.
 
Kraz

Kraz

Member
Bragr said:
Maybe it's a weird balloon we haven't seen before. Who knows what sort of stuff the chinese are sending.

Or else it's just a drone.
Click to expand...
A drone could have balloon/kite characteristics for bouyancy. The military will want to be precise. The ones that the Chinese haven't claimed might be from elsewhere and none the same.
 
Ammogeddon

Ammogeddon

Member
So after the balloon incident the U.S. simply adjusted their radar sensitivity then all of a sudden they have the means to identify and take out these things. I don’t buy that. They’ve been tracking these things for ages and are now taking them out.
 
Winter John

Winter John

Member
I know what it is. I figured it out. It’s all the toxic sludge from Madonna’s plastic surgery. They can’t dump it in the sea or in landfills. So they just tie it all up into balloons and let it float around.
 
V1LÆM

V1LÆM

Gold Member
Aliens most definitely exist and it'd be cool if they came here but only if they were chill. If they want to probe, enslave, or destroy us well that ain't cool.

It's all strange but probably nothing. Most like China/Russia getting up to no good. But if it were aliens...I wouldn't be surprised. Can't rule out anything these days.
 
QSD

QSD

Member
So have any of you US-gaffers been following the concurrent story of the toxic train crash? Because I was talking to some extremely worried US people on twitter who say the stuff in that train (uncured vinly chloride IIRC) is some of the most carcinogenic stuff on the planet. Like die in a couple of months from cancer dangerous. But nobody seems to be talking about that, instead it's a big balloon popping party. So maybe take care if you are in the vicinity of the crash, it seems more dangerous than is being reported.
 
Last edited:
Elysion

Elysion

Banned
QSD said:
So have any of you US-gaffers been following the concurrent story of the toxic train crash? Because I was talking to some extremely worried US people on twitter who say the stuff in that train (uncured vinly chloride IIRC) is some of the most carcinogenic stuff on the planet. Like die in a couple of months from cancer dangerous. But nobody seems to be talking about that, instead it's a big balloon popping party. So maybe take care if you are in the vicinity of the crash, it seems more dangerous than is being reported.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that story seems to be weirdly underreported. Someone took a picture from the window of a plane that flew over the area, and you could see that there was a part of the cloud layer that was pitch black, like someone had sprayed the clouds with black ink. I‘ve also seen videos of a river in the area, full of dead fish. That whole town got evacuated I think, and it seems to be one of the biggest environmental disasters in recent times.
 
D

dave_d

Member
The main things I'm wondering are

Is this something new or something that's been going on for a while?

If it's been going on for a while is this something we've(US) only recently found out about?

If it's something that we've known about for a while have we not been shooting these things down until recently? If so why the change?

If we've known about these things for a while and have been shooting them down for a while why the change to reporting about them?

Is this a case that it has been going on for a while and we've only recently figured it out? Does that say anything about the competency at the D.o.D?

If this is something that other countries have started doing recently why is that? What does that say about what they think of the currently political situation? Both in the world and in the US?


See, tons of stuff none of it requiring it to be aliens.
2ld75j.jpg
 
IDKFA

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
nightmare-slain said:
Aliens most definitely exist and it'd be cool if they came here but only if they were chill. If they want to probe, enslave, or destroy us well that ain't cool.

It's all strange but probably nothing. Most like China/Russia getting up to no good. But if it were aliens...I wouldn't be surprised. Can't rule out anything these days.
Click to expand...

The three objects are probably just different forms of spy tech. The fact that they were just floating on the wind doesn't tell me they were anything unusual.

The other things picked up in previous years (like the tictac) displayed tech that was far more advanced that anything we know of. I doubt the US shot one of those down.
 
QSD

QSD

Member
(terrible joke incoming) The problem with these UFO's is they are hard to ex-plane. The best you can hope to do is ex-balloon them. (terrible joke ends)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ridley Scott interview - sharks in the colosseum, Maximus returning from the afterlife to kill Jesus Christ, asleep at the wheel for Prometheus
45
2K
dem replied
Iran says it's 'completely ready for war' after US official confirms it shot down American drone over international airspace
29
2K
-Minsc- replied
  • Locked
Pentagon admits deployment of military spy drones over the U.S.
25
3K
El Topo replied
  • Locked
Pentagon spots Chinese warships off Alaskan coast for the first time
9
2K
enewtabie replied
  • Locked
Russia will shoot down alliance jets over Syria if US launches air strikes on Alassad
2 3 4 5
237
36K
Yoda replied
Top Bottom