thefugue t1_j82gh6z wrote
Reply to comment by OmarLittleFinger in US officials disclosed new details about the balloon's capabilities. Here's what we know | CNN Politics by taci7c0ff33
To some extent, yes.
At the start of last week, the idea of a balloon based spy technology was absurd and absolutely news worthy. In the worldview of the average person it would have been worthy of a punchline about Cuba or North Korean espionage.
genericrich t1_j84dfds wrote
You do this before a war to get a baseline of what you can gather with a balloon.
In the war, the satellites will all get shot down. It will be hard if not impossible to put up new ones after that. Look up Kessler syndrome.
So now you can fly your cheapie spy balloons over the ravaged USA to see what the Americans are up to next, and compare it to what you learned before the war.
decomposition_ t1_j84j4es wrote
Source: trust me bro
genericrich t1_j865dcx wrote
Oh, sorry, I wasn't aware Reddit was the place you had to cite your sources for speculation about how folks aren't seemingly aware of how useful a balloon is for surveillance, and under what scenarios they might be critical.
Will leave the basic googling to you. Look into how cheap and useful balloons are, and why you might want to use them to understand and prepare for a conflict your military has been tasked with getting ready for, regardless of whether or not you intend to really fight a war.
WestSixtyFifth t1_j84or2r wrote
China isn't going to war with the US and the West. Don't be ridiculous. They depend on importing way too much shit and there's only one earth. They can't find a replacement West.
They're just pushing the boundaries of what they're allowed to get away with. They know they're squarely the second power in the world, and that the US isn't going to escalate things without Americans being harmed. So they can pretty much do anything, like fly a spy balloon over 40 countries, and across the entire continental United States. With minimal, if any consequences.
genericrich t1_j8649zy wrote
News Flash: Militaries whose governments may not want war nevertheless plan for war. We have plans for invading Belgium, updated annually, for example. Not because the USA wants to invade Belgium, but because we want to be ready to do so if we need to.
Making the US agitated serves very little purpose, other than escalate tensions. You don't build and fly sophisticated spy rigs hanging from balloons without a plan, and China is known for long-term planning. It's not ridiculous notion to suggest that an otherwise nonsensical surveillance platform might have a use in a post-war scenario with the USA.
rusty_programmer t1_j87rzs1 wrote
Lmao did you just casually drop some secrets to prove an argument? I wasn’t aware of our invasion plans being public except in certain places.
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