(02-04-2023, 04:01 PM)Cleatwood Wrote:

(02-04-2023, 03:49 PM)Ronster Wrote: Only AFTER China transmitted everything back home first. Mission accomplished and then some. His failure (Biden’s) too shoot down right away sets a dangerous precedent. He can’t/won’t protect our borders or our skies.

Buddy. It’s 2023. They don’t need a balloon to spy hahaha

Actually, it does provide an advantage for gathering SIGINT (Signals Intelligence). 

When you hear about spy aircraft flying off the coast of opposing nations, what they’re doing is listening for and gathering electronic signals ranging from communications to RADAR signatures. That’s how threat libraries of search and fire control RADARS are assembled to program into countermeasure devices on aircraft flying into hostile environments. 

What this balloon was doing, in my opinion, was attempting to gather SIGINT from nuclear missile and strategic air bases too far inland to be surveilled by aircraft. This is why the Pentagon said they had taken measures to prevent the balloon from gathering intelligence. They went into an EMCON (Emissions Control) condition which suspends use of certain RF spectra to prevent detection and recording.

However, we can also gather intelligence from the balloon because it was most assuredly transmitting information itself. We intercept those signals and study them. 

It was an open game of spy versus spy.

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