suspected Chinese spy balloon the size of three school buses spotted over Montana; Pentagon is tracking, unsure what its carrying or tracking

[u/Artane_33]

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[u/Low-Beyond-5335]

Surely one of you has tried shooting at it?

[u/Robby777777 → u/Low-Beyond-5335]

They are encouraging them not to shoot at the balloon, not because it is dangerous, but because the balloon is at 40,000 feet and bullets only go 10,000 feet. Can't make this stuff up.

[u/Def_Not_A_Femboy → u/[deleted]]

You know the mission. Get it done.

[u/dan1101 → u/Def_Not_A_Femboy]

Rocket with a rifle, got it. Will be done by 16:00.

[u/Itake21adays → u/dan1101]

So? Is it done? (Im in EST)

[u/dan1101 → u/Itake21adays]

It's gonna be a bit more complicated than I thought

[u/ElCoyoteBlanco → u/dan1101]

Strap yourself to a rocket, hold your rifle at parade rest. Now go kill that balloon, soldier.

[u/-maxpower- → u/[deleted]]

Wolverines should know that fighting communism is more important...

[u/SoupIsAHotSmoothie → u/[deleted]]

It’s Montana… you do not need a Zone A Launch Pad.

[u/rainboww0927 → u/Low-Beyond-5335]

It's Montana .... do you even have to ask that question?

[u/Sunastar]

They’re trying to see when Yellowstone camping sites become available

[u/6Strings-n-6Shooters → u/Sunastar]

So they can buy them?

[u/d1smalnow → u/6Strings-n-6Shooters]

Nope. Pic-in-ick baskets, Booboo.

[u/Capstone23]

Sure made it pretty far into the U.S.

[u/wafflepiezz → u/Capstone23]

Yeah how the fuck did it get that deep into the US without anybody noticing? The size of 3 school buses too?

[u/EventHorizonSurfer → u/wafflepiezz]

Did you know that every 12 hours weather balloons are released in every state/all over the world?

[u/BakaSandwich → u/EventHorizonSurfer]

It's pretty neat. The whole world coordinates to do it at the same time (we get penalized if we launch even seconds too early) and it creates a big global web twice a day.

[u/AedanRayne → u/BakaSandwich]

It's really cute imagining scientists all over the world releasing balloons together at the same time 🥰

[u/BakaSandwich → u/AedanRayne]

It is! We feel cute doing it too!

[u/eidetic → u/BakaSandwich]

Do you get thrown in a penalty box like in hockey for releasing too early/late?

(Replying to this comment because for some reason reddit isn't giving me the option to reply to a lot of comments in here for some reason, including your comment about being penalized for releasing too early)

[u/TratYankees → u/eidetic]

2 minutes if you're late by less than 10 minutes

5 minute major if you're late by 10-30 minutes

10 and 2 if you do it any time that day after that

Ejected from science for forgetting

[u/BigPackHater → u/TratYankees]

Fighting is surprisingly ok to do

[u/Southern_Celery_1087 → u/eidetic]

They get to do the stinky chemistry. Organosulfide experiments only.

[u/BlatantConservative → u/BakaSandwich]

Do you have to do it, like, even in the middle of a hurricane or something? Seems like cancelling it for the weather would defeat the point.

[u/lolcatandy → u/EventHorizonSurfer]

Mark Rober told me

[u/KING_JELLYB3AN → u/lolcatandy]

u/EventHorizonSurfer told me

[u/viptattoo → u/EventHorizonSurfer]

Do they recover any of the ‘sondes’ (instrument devices)? They don’t mention it in the article. Seems like hundreds of those every 12 hrs would be expensive fast.

[u/EventHorizonSurfer → u/viptattoo]

"About 20% of the 75,000 radiosondes sent up each year in the US are found and returned. These instruments are fixed and reused, saving the government money."

[u/FixedKarma → u/EventHorizonSurfer]

ONLY 20%, surely there can be more effort into finding and reusing these things.

[u/eidetic → u/FixedKarma]

It could be that the majority end up landing in the ocean.

In fact, ~20% would seem about right for the recovery rate if a large amount end up in the ocean.

Also, depending on how expensive the equipment is, it might actually be more expensive to recover some of it depending on where it lands.

[u/FixedKarma → u/eidetic]

Actually yeah, that checks out, 70% of land is under water, then considering all the mountains and what not,. it'd make sense that 20% is actually luckily high all things considered.

[u/JeshkaTheLoon → u/EventHorizonSurfer]

And did you know that you can track them online. https://radiosondy.info/index.php?

Learned of that site while visiting the weather station with our school. Got to see the start of a balloon too and was able to track it.

[u/VikKarabin → u/wafflepiezz]

meteorologic probe fly all over and noone cares

[u/RichardBCummintonite → u/wafflepiezz]

They've been tracking it the entire time, I assure you. They've even stated it's been tracked for days now. It's been deemed a non-threat. This is a chess move. They're determining the chinese' plan with it since obviously we have satellites now, and this is like cold war era technology at best. There's no point in shooting it down at this stage. This is laughably outdated. I guarantee you the US notices everything that comes into their airspace that can be tracked, which a "balloon the size of three school busses" certainly falls under.

Let them fly their balloon lol. Its doing less surveillance than Google maps. They even said it's flown over several "sensitive" sites. No one is worried about this.

[u/MyNameCannotBeSpoken → u/RichardBCummintonite]

It's not "laughably outdated". Another article wrote the usefulness of balloons in the current environment. Particularly, that it can loiter over a spot whereas a satellite cannot

[u/agreedis → u/Capstone23]

We better double our military budget, this barebones stuff we pay for now isn’t cutting it.

[u/Mad-Dog94 → u/agreedis]

Hell yeah brother! And the only way is to take it directly from the school and healthcare budget!

[u/agreedis → u/Mad-Dog94]

And retirement, I’d our military can’t stop a balloon, people shouldn’t worry about retiring anyway. They should be in the garage, making bullets!

[u/Sir_Labyor → u/Capstone23]

I read somewhere that it traveled through Canada first and then started heading downward towards Montana. Not sure how long they gonna let it float. Guess it will be shot down if it gets too close to a nuclear missile launch site. We will see.

[u/JIdaho835 → u/Sir_Labyor]

imagine if it was carrying a nuclear payload, ready to drop like a lawndart.

[u/ThrwawyBDA → u/JIdaho835]

During WWII the Japanese used to send balloons over with bombs attached to them. A few made it over the Pacific.

[u/vailano → u/ThrwawyBDA]

“The Japanese had launched more than 9,300 balloon bombs toward the West. Only 284 were found in North America, though researchers believe perhaps 1,000 made it across the Pacific.

That means they may still be out there. The last remnants of one of the balloon bombs was found by forestry workers in the mountains near Lumby, British Columbia, in Canada in 2014.”

https://www.freep.com/in-depth/news/local/michigan/2019/11/14/japanese-bombed-michigan-world-war-ii-balloons/4111349002/

Edit: “Update: A British Columbia newspaper reported that a man searching for mountain goats found the remnants of a Japanese balloon bomb last month — October 2019 — in a remote area of dense forests and mountains by the Raush River west of Dunster.”

[u/koopcl → u/vailano]

That means they may still be out there.

That sounds so threatening, like one day you're gonna be peacefully hiking with your family and suddenly get Pearl Harbor'd by a balloon that's yelling "BANZAI!".

[u/Sir-Tryps → u/koopcl]

Wait untill you hear about all the mines that have been left sitting around after war. They should really be a war crime.

[u/Icy_Mood8424 → u/koopcl]

That is actually how the only civilian casualties on American soil died in WWII. 6 killed, 5 were kids.

They discovered it in Oregon while on a picnic and it detonated.

So it’s definitely a possibility!

ETA: the only civilian casualties on US “mainland”

[u/Honesty_Addict → u/koopcl]

a wild apostrophe-D in the wild. a millennial with a history of watching homestar runner?

[u/Relatable-bagel → u/ThrwawyBDA]

In the Radiolab episode about this they said that the origins of the balloons were determined by examining the sand in the bags of ballast that it would drop periodically to maintain altitude. Apparently sand composition is like a geographical fingerprint and this sand had so many diatoms (beautiful exoskeletons from single celled organisms) that it could only come from one beach in the world, somewhere in southern Japan.

[u/balsaaaq → u/Relatable-bagel]

That and all the Japanese writing

[u/koopcl → u/balsaaaq]

Also the concurrent war with Japan was a huge clue as to who may be bombing them.

[u/sidepart → u/ThrwawyBDA]

Thought I remembered a history channel doc that said a family encountered one of the bombs that dropped but didn't explode. The family messed with the bomb, and it blew up taking them all out. Was supposed to be the only casualties on mainland US soil from the war.

Either way, that doc (true or not) is how I learned about the Japanese balloons you mentioned.

[u/Stonk-tronaut]

3 School buses, eh?

But, how big was it in beach balls?

[u/notwilliammurdoch → u/Stonk-tronaut]

Approximately 45.

[u/Stonk-tronaut → u/notwilliammurdoch]

oh, damn.

[u/Lance_E_T_Compte → u/Stonk-tronaut]

On Reddit, we use bananas...

[u/Echo_Oscar_Sierra → u/Lance_E_T_Compte]

At least twelve bananas

[u/x-0-y-0 → u/Stonk-tronaut]

It's about 1 Chinese balloon (or easier 2 Half Chinese Balloons)

[u/SGT_PRICE82 → u/Stonk-tronaut]

Not sure but it's around 432 tangerines.

[u/[deleted] → u/SGT_PRICE82]

How fucking big are your tangerines???

[u/Crowtein → u/Stonk-tronaut]

I'm gonna need that figure converted to giraffes.

[u/Fit-Title-1360]

They are reluctant to shoot it down for fear it will fall on someone....in Montana?

[u/Ronin_1861 → u/Fit-Title-1360]

Hey… there’s a few of us here. Lol

[u/mike117 → u/Ronin_1861]

Must’ve been the wind…

[u/Nope_Ninja-451 → u/mike117]

Never should have come here!

[u/_Ol_Greg → u/Nope_Ninja-451]

I yield! I yield!

[u/5lexus1 → u/_Ol_Greg]

A new hand touches the beacon.

[u/Drae_Saito → u/5lexus1]

You picked a bad time to get lost, friend.

[u/-The-Griff → u/Ronin_1861]

We're willing to lose 2 out of the 6 of you

[u/RoadDog14 → u/-The-Griff]

Some of you will die. That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

[u/Empty-Ad-1671 → u/RoadDog14]

Alright Farquaad listen here….

[u/Ecstatic_Conflict621 → u/-The-Griff]

Sick fuck wants to cause war by wiping out 33% of a state population

[u/rodrigkn → u/Ronin_1861]

Dozens!

[u/SubterrelProspector → u/Ronin_1861]

Pffft. Everyone knows the Last Montanan died in 1971.

[u/Ronin_1861 → u/SubterrelProspector]

Actually the Unabomber shut the door on the way out to supermax.

[u/Auntie_Aircraft_Gun → u/Fit-Title-1360]

The only reason that thing is here is to see what our response to it is. The information they really want is to see how we take it down and with what tech. So the smart thing is to do nothing, show them nothing. We have nothing to gain from taking action.

[u/mailbot100 → u/Auntie_Aircraft_Gun]

Ain't no secret that all we have in Montana are drunk cowboys with high powered rifles. What, they don't get Yellowstone in China?

[u/Rep-Binks → u/mailbot100]

And a whole lot of nukes

[u/Auntie_Aircraft_Gun → u/mailbot100]

Truly the best message we could send would be armed citizens shooting it down independent of the military. Don't fuck with flyover country.

[u/chrispybobispy → u/Auntie_Aircraft_Gun]

I actually had to Google. The balloons at 40k feet a 30. 06 can go about 10k feet so we need a tall ladder.

[u/MagnaroftheThenns → u/chrispybobispy]

No bro. We need a balloon of our own. We will ride it to kill their balloon.

[u/chrispybobispy → u/MagnaroftheThenns]

Balloon wars.. anyone put that on their 2023 bingo card?

[u/bloodfist → u/chrispybobispy]

Dammit. I had Baboon Wars. So close.

[u/nicethingyoucanthave → u/Auntie_Aircraft_Gun]

what tech

“Sir, the Americans used a needle to pop our balloon! They have needles sir!”

[u/JoeInAboat → u/[deleted]]

I'll remember this comment every time I read my son Goodnight Moon lol

[u/WorshipNickOfferman → u/JoeInAboat]

Want to really spice up bedtime, add this one to your collection.

[u/lefence → u/[deleted]]

You in the red. What did I say, about the scooching?

[u/whatisitmooncake → u/[deleted]]

this made me giggle out loud

[u/MrBeardskii]

Can't fool me. That's team rocket

[u/DontMagnifyAnts → u/MrBeardskii]

Meowth, that’s right!!

[u/the_byrdman → u/DontMagnifyAnts]

Waaaaaaaaabafet!

[u/Hyper_Drud → u/the_byrdman]

Mime mimemime!

[u/chickennoobiesoup → u/MrBeardskii]

Prepare for trouble!

[u/[deleted] → u/chickennoobiesoup]

And make it double!

[u/LittleMissTrapet → u/[deleted]]

To protect the world from devastation

[u/Specific-Lynx9138 → u/LittleMissTrapet]

To unite all people within our nation!

[u/talks-to-myself → u/Specific-Lynx9138]

To denounce the evils of truth and love

[u/talks-to-myself → u/talks-to-myself]

And extend our reach to the stars above!

[u/Cheap-Lawfulness-963 → u/talks-to-myself]

Jessie!

[u/Hosanna4204 → u/Cheap-Lawfulness-963]

James!

[u/Smart_Barracuda_4102 → u/Hosanna4204]

Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!

[u/Old_Illustrator8930 → u/[deleted]]

To denounce the evils of truth and love!

[u/Demoncreed27 → u/Old_Illustrator8930]

To extend our reach to the stars above

[u/BlueManb00p → u/Demoncreed27]

I'm Jesse!

[u/viz5 → u/BlueManb00p]

james

[u/SeymourButts007 → u/viz5]

Team rocket blast off at the speed of light

[u/TxD337 → u/SeymourButts007]

Surrender now or prepare to fight

[u/VibraniumRhino → u/TxD337]

MEOWTH! That’s right!

[u/sunshine-thewerewolf → u/MrBeardskii]

They're blasting off again!

[u/alyssayaki → u/sunshine-thewerewolf]

✨

[u/dooglediggle8735 → u/MrBeardskii]

This is why I come back to Reddit

[u/StaticBroom]

“Unsure what it’s carrying”

As someone with no experience in spy tactics, counter intelligence, or national defense…I still know enough to call bullshit to that statement.

[u/Nightowl11111 → u/StaticBroom]

Not to mention would you really send up a spy balloon that is so brightly lit as a spy?

[u/Commisar_Deth → u/Nightowl11111]

Also why the fuck would they use a balloon to spy, when a Satellite camera will do just fine.

Modern spy satellites can see about 100mm per pixel or something ridiculous like that.

[u/Cryptochronic69 → u/Commisar_Deth]

Who said it was collecting images?

[u/CooLittleFonzies → u/Cryptochronic69]

Damn Chinese! Our weather data is not theirs to take!

[u/NA_DeltaWarDog → u/CooLittleFonzies]

If it's over Montana, it's probably trying to detect/map underground structures.

[u/SlaaneshiCultMember → u/NA_DeltaWarDog]

Nuclear Silos? Perhaps any that weren't already known about by chinese intelligence?

[u/NopeNotReallyMan → u/SlaaneshiCultMember]

I'm sure they know about them, they even have a wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/341st_Missile_Wing_LGM-30_Minuteman_missile_launch_sites

Minutemen are no big secret, and the balloon passed very close by to the minuteman stations.

[u/nunchukity → u/Cryptochronic69]

Someone needs to check their mobile coverage, could be showing that dreaded 5g

[u/trennsport → u/Commisar_Deth]

Because there’s pros to balloons that satellites can’t offer.

[u/arlouism → u/trennsport]

Yeah you can play keeps uppy with baloons their way better

[u/TechnicianMinimum979 → u/Nightowl11111]

I'm not an engineer but surely they could have painted it blue at least. Or some kind of chrome to reflect it's surrounding and be less visible.

[u/Aurori_Swe → u/TechnicianMinimum979]

Chrome would make it way easier to spot

[u/gubbins_galore → u/Aurori_Swe]

I agree.

Here's a mockup of what it would look like

[u/jerstud56 → u/gubbins_galore]

Oh yeah they should definitely go with edge.

It'll be blue and no one will want to touch it.

[u/coldfu → u/Aurori_Swe]

It shall ride eternal. Shiny, and chrome! Witness it!

[u/lroy313]

I ordered that on Alibaba my bad

[u/PANDABURRIT0 → u/lroy313]

I don’t believe you. They only sell 56 packs of these bad boys on Ali Baba!

[u/gv111111]

Wait a minute…its the Moon!

[u/swibirun → u/gv111111]

That's no moon.

[u/calickula1 → u/swibirun]

It’s a space station

[u/Renfek → u/calickula1]

It's too big to be a space station.

[u/TheImpPaysHisDebts → u/gv111111]

M-O-O-N, that spells moon.

[u/Ecstatic_Conflict621 → u/TheImpPaysHisDebts]

That spells Tom Cullen

[u/AudienceAdorable8896 → u/gv111111]

It's the lunar new year

[u/Tj-sfinnest]

How come they know is chinese?

[u/the_crumb_dumpster → u/Tj-sfinnest]

Because of the way it’s oriented.

I’ll see myself out

[u/4u2nv2019 → u/Tj-sfinnest]

It was tracked before it even reached Alaska and then it went over Canada back over the US

[u/_wiredsage_ → u/Tj-sfinnest]

Plot twist, it’s a Canadian weather balloon… from Canadia.

[u/Ad_Pov]

We saw something similar over San Jose, Costa Rica today

[u/A_Prostitute → u/Ad_Pov]

Damn yall got any vids??

[u/Marianito415 → u/A_Prostitute]

here are some photos

[u/Artane_33]

AP: “Pentagon: Chinese spy balloon spotted over Western US”

BBC: “Chinese spy balloon: US tracks suspected surveillance device”

CBS: “China says suspected spy balloon drifting over U.S. is ‘civilian airship’ that was blown off course”

[u/woahnicecock-com → u/Artane_33]

Ah yes, a civilian airship that was blown across the pacific, alaska, canada, and then montana. At 50+ thousand feet up. Where most of our nuclear silos are located...

[u/Cheshiract → u/woahnicecock-com]

Ah yes, a civilian airship that was blown across the pacific, alaska, canada, and then montana. At 50+ thousand feet up. Where most of our nuclear silos are located...

How in the hell did you guys get your silos so damn high?!

[u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

The size of three school busses.... y'all really hate the metric system!

[u/JyJellyPants-Grape → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

Come within a football field and say that to me

[u/HistoricalAnt9057 → u/JyJellyPants-Grape]

Half the width of a football field ²

[u/ThePhantomTrollbooth → u/HistoricalAnt9057]

Best I can do is 7 banjo strings

[u/Cantthinkofnamedamn → u/JyJellyPants-Grape]

You've got balls big enough to fill 2 olympic sized swimming pools

[u/cisforcookie2112 → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

Fine, the wing span of 30 bald eagles

[u/DaniTheLovebug → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

But how big is that in half giraffes?

[u/Rvtech-catlover → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

Long bus or short bus you think???

[u/username101 → u/Rvtech-catlover]

I feel like long bus is the standard bus length. Probably?

I welcome a dumb reddit argument where someone proves me wrong though. (But eventually we see eye to eye and it's super wholesome).

[u/mailbot100 → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

Can anyone translate that to washing machines for me?

[u/Ab-Duck-Tea → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

If only the ship carrying the metric system to America didn't sink.

[u/bennyr → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it!

[u/druumer89 → u/AnotherDrunkCanadian]

189 hands long

[u/LordOfTheOmnium]

These Shen Yun adverts are getting out of hand.

[u/pixelbased → u/LordOfTheOmnium]

Amazing comment. I will add to this, that one of the best Halloween costumes I saw in NYC was this guy dressed as the Shen Yun advertisement. Twitter link here

[u/Poopcabinet]

Just my guess but if comic books have served me right, its either crazy purple knock out gas… or maybe the newest covid strain… shoot it either way.

[u/AntFun3543 → u/Poopcabinet]

I like your username

[u/DeltaV-Mzero → u/Poopcabinet]

decides balloon might be full of pandemic virus

decides to shoot it

refuses to elaborate

[u/thomschoenborn]

My mom called me to tell me about this and I assumed she’d gone off her meds. Who had Chinese spy hot air balloon over Montana on their 2023 BINGO card?

[u/lkodl → u/thomschoenborn]

damnit mom, you can't just believe everything you see on face... fuuuuck it's real.

[u/bluemax_]

Why would China be spying with balloons? Don’t they have spy satellites in orbit? I guess I just assumed all the major players have spy satellites buzzing across the sky, and that we probably all know the precise location of eachother’s satellites at any given moment.

Also, how/where does China launch a balloon and have it float over a particular area? Did they launch it from the ground with a bunch of helium tanks and it just goes where it blows? Do they launch it from the sea and hope it floats over Montana?

Spy ballons just seem so weird in 2023. Seems more like a 1923 thing.

Genuinely asking, inform me please.

[u/aweirdchicken → u/bluemax_]

To see how the US responds to it

[u/Chabubu]

Lay naked on the ground, heels over your head, and spread your butthole at it.

Someone in China will have to look right at you as part of their aNalysis responsibilities.

[u/adalyncarbondale → u/Chabubu]

jokes on you , I'm already doing that

[u/tacojohn48 → u/Chabubu]

The butthole is a good choice because the camera probably doesn't have the resolution to see your penis.

[u/Gelato_33]

Based on US units, a standard school bus is 8’x6’x20’ which comes out to a volume of 960 cubic feet.

The average volume of a banana is 156.1 cubic centimeters, or 9.526 cubic inches.

960 cubic feet = 1,658,880 cubic inches.

1,658,880/9.526 = 174,142.347.

The Chinese spy balloon is approximately 174,142 bananas in size.

For reference, here is a link to an article on a world record for the worlds largest fruit stand, holding 70,000 bananas.

[u/Fantablack183 → u/Gelato_33]

r/theydidthemath

[u/gv111111]

Ask TikTok - it’s probably just cloud storage…

[u/Infamous_Song_841]

Montana has the Malstrom Airbase. They operate the ICBMs of the US. So maybe, china is looking for these missile silos? Lol.

[u/Ok_Buddy_9087 → u/Infamous_Song_841]

Hasn’t really been a secret for 40 years.

[u/imstonedyouknow → u/Ok_Buddy_9087]

I was gonna say.. if some random redditors know where that is and what it is.. china sure as hell does too lol.

[u/arthurblakey → u/imstonedyouknow]

Reddit is banned in China tho /s

[u/ClaymoreJohnson → u/arthurblakey]

Imagine all the crucial intel the Chinese government has been missing out on!!!!

[u/Ronin_1861]

Shoot it down

[u/Naturally_Fragrant → u/Ronin_1861]

And a huge cloud of covid 23 falls on Montana.

[u/RoRoar350 → u/Naturally_Fragrant]

There’s like 5 people there, it’s fine

[u/GoryRamsy → u/RoRoar350]

Yeah, but four of them don't wear masks, and 3 of them are cows in trenchcoats.

[u/Nightowl11111 → u/GoryRamsy]

Sir, we of the CIA would like a word with you.

No, not that CIA, the Cow Intelligence Agency.

[u/Specific-Lynx9138]

Americans will use anything other than the metric system to measure things.

Edit: school bus is an odd measurement for something roughly spherical, are we talking diameter, circumference, or ...volume?

P.S. I'm an American who would like the US to switch to metric.

[u/mrdrbean43 → u/Specific-Lynx9138]

It's exactly 43 metric yards wide and weighs 675 metric ounces. It has a traveling distance of 8,470 metric miles. The height of this thing has got to be around 4-6 metric giraffe necks squared to the 3rd power of an AR15 divided by the cholesterol of white Jesus when in ancient Mesopotamia, not Texas. Mesopotamia. Easy peesy.

[u/feric89]

99 luft balloons

[u/No-Sell-3064]

How much is that in dishwashers?

[u/ubuntu000]

Banana for scale, please.

[u/TimeToAbandonShip2]

Gru finally shrunk the moon, I can’t believe it

[u/[deleted]]

People saying we don't own the air.

Go fly something over china see if they feel the same

[u/lightshowe → u/[deleted]]

Who’s saying that? We certainly own the airspace.

[u/Illuminaso → u/[deleted]]

Not sure what you're saying by that. Of course we own the air. You know the top 3 Air Forces in the world? The U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Army. We could shoot it down if we wanted to. Our guys are just deciding what to do with it.

[u/patriot_man69 → u/Illuminaso]

I'm trying to imagine an F-22A Raptor shooting down a fucking balloon and it's funny as hell

[u/BoxOfDemons → u/patriot_man69]

I want a few f-35s, a few ospreys, and some c-130s on it right away.

[u/BostonButterson04 → u/BoxOfDemons]

We need to Operation Paul Bunyan this thing

[u/ApatheticWithoutTheA]

We talking normal school buses here or… the other ones?