China Slams Pentagon's Downing of Balloon as an 'Excessive Reaction'

[Boats]

China Slams Pentagon's Downing of Balloon as an 'Excessive Reaction'
By: Jake Johnson - Common Dreams News 02-05-23
Re: https://www.commondreams.org/news/ch...ntagon-balloon

China's Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement Saturday condemning the Pentagon for shooting down a balloon that Beijing says was a civilian aircraft that drifted over the United States by mistake.
"The Chinese side clearly requested that the U.S. appropriately deal with this in a calm, professional, and restrained manner," the ministry said, again dismissing the Pentagon's claim that the high-altitude balloon was part of a surveillance operation aimed at monitoring sensitive military sites.

"For the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention," the ministry continued, invoking force majeure, which under international law refers to unforeseen circumstances that are beyond a state's control. China has claimed the balloon was a civilian weather research aircraft that was blown way off course by unexpected winds.

"China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved, and retains the right to respond further," the ministry concluded.

War hawks in the Republican Party, including former President Donald Trump, predictably reacted with hysteria to the Pentagon's Thursday announcement that it detected the balloon over the state of Montana.

"President Biden should stop coddling and appeasing the Chinese communists. Bring the balloon down now and exploit its tech package, which could be an intelligence bonanza," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), one of the most vocal warmongers in Congress. "And President Biden and Secretary Austin need to answer if this was detected over Alaskan airspace. If so, why didn't we bring it down there? If not, why not? As usual, the Chinese Communists' provocations have been met with weakness and hand-wringing."

An unnamed Pentagon official said Saturday that this latest incident is one of several times a Chinese balloon has been detected in U.S. airspace in recent years. The other balloons were not shot down.

"[People's Republic of China] government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time," the official said in a briefing with reporters.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have risen sharply in recent months, largely over Taiwan. The Biden administration recently announced that it is expanding the U.S. military's footprint in the Philippines, a move widely characterized as a message to China.

As The New York Timesreported Thursday, "A greater U.S. military presence in the Philippines would... make rapid American troop movement to the Taiwan Strait much easier. The archipelago of the Philippines lies in an arc south of Taiwan, and the bases there would be critical launch and resupply points in a war with China. The Philippines' northernmost island of Itbayat is less than 100 miles from Taiwan."

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said late last month that the odds of a U.S. war with China within the next two years are "very high," echoing the assessment of the head of the Air Mobility Command.

Far from promoting diplomatic talks with China, Republicans in Congress appear bent on ratcheting up tensions further—and some Democrats are joining them. Last month, with overwhelming bipartisan support, House Republicans established the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

Upon her appointment to the panel on Thursday, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) called the Chinese Communist Party "a threat to our democracy and way of life" and said the select committee represents the "best opportunity to accomplish real results for Americans and respond to China's aggression."

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the chair of the select committee, has said the panel's goal is to help the U.S. "win this new Cold War" with China.

Nearly two dozen House progressives issued a statement last month opposing the formation of the committee, saying the U.S. "can and must work towards our economic and strategic competitiveness goals without 'a new Cold War' and without the repression, discrimination, hate, fear, degeneration of our political institutions, and violations of civil rights that such a 'Cold War' may entail."
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Nexet a short history of Balloon Warfare: see below;

The Chinese spy balloon shootdown and a brief history of anti-balloon warfare
Re: https://hushkit.net/2023/02/05/the-c...lloon-warfare/

Yesterday, a Langley-based F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft destroyed a snooping un-crewed Chinese reconnaissance balloon in US waters. The balloon had already crossed Canada and the US, but it was deemed safer to shoot it down over water. The balloon was shot down with an AIM-9X infra-red guided missile. With the balloon at around 65,000 feet, this was one of the highest altitude aerial kills in history and the first air-to-air ‘kill’ for the F-22. But this is just the latest in a story that is over a hundred years old.

25 years ago Western fighters failed to down a scientific despite over 1000 20-mm cannon rounds being fired. This may not have surprised fighter pilots of an earlier generation, the ‘balloon busters’ of World War One who took on the enemy’s artillery-spotting balloons with mixed success. Normal bullets proved ineffective for anti-balloon duties. This was not reliably rectified until the arrival to the Western Front of Pomeroy incendiary – and Buckingham flat-nosed incendiary bullets in 1917. Unguided rockets were less accurate and potentially more dangerous to the launch platform.

Belgian Willy Omer François Jean baron Coppens d’Houthulst DSO MC was the ‘top balloon buster’ with 35 victories. He was first assigned to the the Sixieme Escradrille as a sergent 1st class (Sergeant First Class) on 8 April 1917, with a brief stint flying BE-2c two-seaters. He was quickly moved to Quatrieme Escadrille, which was equipped with Farman pushers. By May he had moved onto the Sopwith 1½ Strutter and almost immediately took the type to combat.

Belgian Willy Omer François Jean baron Coppens d’Houthulst DSO MC was the ‘top balloon buster’ with 35 victories. He was first assigned to the the Sixieme Escradrille as a sergent 1st class (Sergeant First Class) on 8 April 1917, with a brief stint flying BE-2c two-seaters. He was quickly moved to Quatrieme Escadrille, which was equipped with Farman pushers. By May he had moved onto the Sopwith 1½ Strutter and almost immediately took the type to combat.

Not staying rooted for long, by mid July, he moved to the single-seater pursuit fighter unit 1ère Escadrille de Chasse (1st Pursuit Squadron). He was given a Nieuport 16 (the rest of the unit flew the superior Nieuport 17). No other pilots accepted the offer of the new Hanriot HD.1, but Willy’s enthusiasm (and success) convinced others, who took his lead. Coppen’s adopted the tactic of opening fire at extremely close range with extreme effectiveness, blasting both air balloons and aeroplanes from the sky. Even without incendiary ammunition he destroyed many balloons or forced their occupants to abandon their aircraft in flight. He was one of many ‘balloon busting’ aces.

[Note: Several old photo's on this site - go to the link above to view them.
Re: https://hushkit.net/2023/02/05/the-c...loon-warfare/]

Project Mogul was a 1940s effort by the US to use infra-sound-sensor-equipped balloons to detect atomic explosions. The cover-up of one Mogul balloon crash with a deliberate lie, resulted in the Roswell myth of alien spacecraft in US hands. In the Cold War the West used surveillance balloons over the USSR, we spoke to a former Soviet air force Su-15 pilot noted, “The regiment was constantly on combat readiness. Two aircraft were always in a state of quick readiness alert: One for high altitude target interception (with four air-to-air missiles), and the second for the “work” purposes of the low-speed interception of reconnaissance air balloons (four air-to-air missiles, two GSh-23 cannon pods on hardpoints).

The high altitude performance of surveillance balloons, that generally operate from 60-120,000 feet can be challenging targets to fighter aircraft that are generally limited to 50,000 feet altitude. Historically, pressure suits were required in the event of pressure loss above 50,000 feet, though with increased systems reliability, the pilots of newer fighter aircraft (particularly the F-22, Typhoon, Rafale and Su-57) fly extremely high without them. The higher thrust-to-weight ratios and lower-wing loading of these aircraft makes them far more effective in the thin air of high altitude than older fighters like the F-4 Phantom II.

With their long endurance, ability to loiter and high altitude performance aerostats remain an effective way of gathering information, they are also less predictable and cheaper than satellites, and less hazardous (both to the crew’s safety and in politically terms) than manned heavy-than-air reconnaissance aircraft.
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Personal note:
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This sorta brings to mind the Hindinburg incident many years ago.
Here's an Old photo link: (It was a Trans Continental Air Ship https://www.history.com/.image/c_lim...der-title.webp
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Famous photo of: Belgian Willy Omer François Jean baron Coppens d’Houthulst DSO MC was the ‘top balloon buster’ with 35 victories. He was first assigned to the the Sixieme Escradrille as a sergent 1st class (Sergeant First Class) on 8 April 1917, with a brief stint flying BE-2c two-seaters. He was quickly moved to Quatrieme Escadrille, which was equipped with Farman pushers. By May he had moved onto the Sopwith 1½ Strutter and almost immediately took the type to combat.
Re: https://hushkit.files.wordpress.com/...ge-2.png?w=768

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Personal note: What amazes me - Is that with all the satilites today why a balloon?
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[Boats]

Update: China threatens US for popping balloon as American military begins recovery operation
By: Madeleine Hubbard - Just The News - 02-05-23
Re: https://justthenews.com/government/s...very-operation

Video link on site:

1st Report: China on Sunday threatened to respond after the United States shot down a suspected spy balloon that flew over sensitive military sites while U.S. armed forces are currently recovering the aircraft.

"China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned, and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has insisted the balloon was a civilian research airship that went off course, said.

The agency also said China "strongly disapproves of and protests against the US attack," which it said "is a clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice."

The U.S. military popped the balloon Saturday over the Atlantic Ocean after it traversed the continental United States for several days last week, including over sensitive military sites, according to The Associated Press.

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard began a recovery operation for the balloon on Saturday, but it is unclear how long the mission will take. Officials plan on analyzing the recovered Chinese equipment in the balloon, which fell in about 47 feet of water about six miles off the coast.

"This surveillance balloon purposely traversed the United States and Canada, and we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites," a senior Defense Department official said.
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2nd report: Comment by: 4-Star Gen. Jack Keane: (see below)
follows below;

Four-star Gen. Jack Keane blasts Biden over Chinese balloon:

Statements were made that we had plenty of time of opportunities to take it down'
while over the ocean!? Why did we wait? Good Question
(I thought about this to: - Boats)

President Joe Biden for not taking down the Chinese surveillance balloon when it was over the Pacific Ocean before it crossed much of the continental U.S. and flew over sensitive military sites.

"We've had all of our sensors watching this, you know, for some time," Keane told Fox News on Saturday.

He said he believes "it's not a complicated operation" for the U.S. military to take down a balloon moving at that speed.

"Nonetheless, we finally did what we should have done at the beginning. Remember, this was approaching the United States over water," he said.

"It was approaching the Aleutian Islands over water," Keane said, referring to the island chain southwest of Alaska. "We had plenty of opportunity to take it down then, and that's when it should have happened."

Comment by: Retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane

Retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane blasted President Joe Biden for not taking down the Chinese surveillance balloon when it was over the Pacific Ocean before it crossed much of the continental U.S. and flew over sensitive military sites.

"We've had all of our sensors watching this, you know, for some time," Keane told Fox News on Saturday.

He said he believes "it's not a complicated operation" for the U.S. military to take down a balloon moving at that speed.

"Nonetheless, we finally did what we should have done at the beginning. Remember, this was approaching the United States over water," he said.

"It was approaching the Aleutian Islands over water," Keane said, referring to the island chain southwest of Alaska. "We had plenty of opportunity to take it down then, and that's when it should have happened."

Keane predicted that the U.S. military had been tracking the balloon from mainland China and had "plenty of warning" to take down the aircraft. Planes are even stationed in Alaska that could have been capable of popping it, he said.

Regardless, taking down the balloon, even if it's later than ideal, "still sends a message to China that we’re not going to let you get away with this nonsense," Keane said.

The retired general made headlines late last month when he predicted that the U.S. military is underprepared to go to war against China.

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Personal note: A little missed advanced notice and discussion wasn't made it seems.
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I would imagin more will be posted or televised shortly. Seem's all the ducks weren't
in a row and all those who needed to know where not notified or advised?
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I wonder what elements of that ballon are salvageable and as to the electronics
and recordings be made may be of great importance to the War Dept!
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