|
Post by End Zone on Feb 9, 2023 3:14:28 GMT -7
A friend who is now living at Huntsville, AL posted the attached USAF F-22 squadron shoulder patch at his LinkedIn account on Feb 8th. The patch should earn USAF Patch of the Year award. Winnie the Pooh is hanging onto the weather balloon string. Winnie should be a traditional Chinese black and white panda. For member's awareness, the USAF 27th Fighter Squadron flying the F-22 Raptor is based at Langley AFB, Virginia. That squadron's aircrew 'killed' the weather balloon with a heat-seeking AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. A patch may be worn on a pilot's flight suit for a few days highlighting airmanship and his/her famous weather balloon 'kill.' LOL.
|
|
|
Post by thomas cat on Feb 10, 2023 20:09:32 GMT -7
lol... it looks like someone else just earned that coveted patch! F-22 shoots down new ‘object’ over US airspace, days after Chinese balloon saga
In one way it's kind of funny. Who would ever think that our most sophisticated jet fighter first and second combat kill would be a balloon. Still well done, not every plane can fly that high. ( 60,000 feet ) I'm going to add this link. It explains why they did what they did with the first balloon. The F-22's first air-to-air kill (and dispelling balloon myths)I never thought for a minute that it was about collateral damage on the ground. Things fall out of the sky all the time; rarely does it land on anything of consequence. It was about collecting and analyzing its capabilities, all the while mitigating any information it could collect and transmit back to them. Go Airforce!!!
|
|
|
Post by End Zone on Feb 11, 2023 4:41:28 GMT -7
Some background: US Northern Command is in charge of the airspace over the US and Canadian dirt and significant portions of the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic Oceans. Other combatant commands support NORTHCOM's mission. NORTHCOM has access to almost any DoD resource it needs to defend the airspace and the US. Every service (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard) commits capabilities 24/7 to NORTHCOM requirements. The USAF's F-22 Raptors stationed at Langley and Elmendorf airbases are part of a ready-duty air defense package on-call at all times. A NORTHCOM telephone call to the President or National Security Advisor is NOT required to defend US airspace from an emergent threat. OBTW, a Chinese weather balloon is not an emergent threat. Nor is a mysterious object found lurking at 40K feet off the north Alaska coast. Those targets are more of a political embarrassment and information ops threat and are handled much differently as noted in recent press reports.
No one at the WH, NSA, or public affairs mentioned that NORTHCOM is still tracking suspected space aliens over North America, but NORTHCOM has not yet shot down any of their spacecraft. Why? The Raptors are no match for Gul Dukat. LOL!
Go Navy!!!
1981-2011
|
|
|
Post by FLCardinalFan on Feb 11, 2023 5:38:33 GMT -7
Some background: US Northern Command is in charge of the airspace over the US and Canadian dirt and significant portions of the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic Oceans. Other combatant commands support NORTHCOM's mission. NORTHCOM has access to almost any DoD resource it needs to defend the airspace and the US. Every service (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard) commits capabilities 24/7 to NORTHCOM requirements. The USAF's F-22 Raptors stationed at Langley and Elmendorf airbases are part of a ready-duty air defense package on-call at all times. A NORTHCOM telephone call to the President or National Security Advisor is NOT required to defend US airspace from an emergent threat. OBTW, a Chinese weather balloon is not an emergent threat. Nor is a mysterious object found lurking at 40K feet off the north Alaska coast. Those targets are more of a political embarrassment and information ops threat and are handled much differently as noted in recent press reports. No one at the WH, NSA, or public affairs mentioned that NORTHCOM is still tracking suspected space aliens over North America, but NORTHCOM has not yet shot down any of their spacecraft. Why? The Raptors are no match for Gul Dukat. LOL! Go Navy!!!
1981-2011I wanted to see some some Ace just save the ammo and fly right through the balloon. Imagine the stories many years from now. Hey grandpa did you have a lot of kills like David McCampbell, He had 34 9 in one day. That was a lot of zeros. Robin Olds was great too grandpa! he was awesome during Vietnam. Grandpa, How many did you shoot down? I shot down one son Was it a mig grandpa? No it was a balloon dear You mean like the one's at my birthday party! Why would you should that down? My child it was a Chinese spy balloon Wow Grandpa does that make you an ace? Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by thomas cat on Feb 12, 2023 22:24:45 GMT -7
Okay, I just had to add this... Warning this is a photo shopped image....not real...but it's still kind of funny. And what the hell is going on. As I type this, we have now shot down three more. At this rate, some F-22 pilot is going to become an ace in balloon kills...lol. These new ones while smaller and at different altitudes have been described as octagonal or cylindrical in shape with no obvious means of propulsion. Also, one pilot said it interfered with his instruments while another said it did not. Maybe it is Gul Dukat messing with us. In all seriousness, this is disturbing for all kinds of reasons. I don't want to get into the political crap as to how all this should be handled. Smarter/more knowledgeable people than me that know what we can do or not do should decide this. Apparently, this has been going on for years we just didn't realize it. Our detection system was not calibrated to detect this kind of threat. Blame whoever you want for that. To be honest, I'm not all that worried. The Chinese, Russians or any other adversary has so many other ways to spy on us. While this is a concern, spy balloons are the least of my worries. Think Tik Tok, agents in country and going to our universities, working in our high-tech companies, spy satellites, or treasonous governmental officials and/or CEO's or even ordinary Joes that know stuff and want to make a quick buck. None of that is new. We got to be vigilant in all areas, and balloons are just a new area where we must do so. .
|
|
|
Post by End Zone on Feb 13, 2023 7:27:44 GMT -7
Does anyone think it is odd that all 4 floating objects were shot down over the water, or in very remote regions in the last 2 weeks? Thus, no debris recovery is immediately possible. So far, only the USN and USCG has said anything about the 'weather' balloon shot down off the east coast. Some recovered material was supposedly US-made. So what does that tell us? The US makes good birthday balloons. Anyway, 99% of the material bought in Walmart is Chinese-made and no one thinks a second about the horrible spying going on between the isles. LOL!
The lack of timely communications from the ***** Administration and DoD, the Canadians, and perhaps a few commercial outfits lets wacko conspiracy theorists fill in the information void.
|
|
ricardo
Pro Bowler
Redbirds4Ever!
Posts: 1,458
|
Post by ricardo on Feb 13, 2023 12:17:48 GMT -7
|
|