Unknown object downed over Alaska -- Feb 10, 2023 -- NEWS ONLY

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it still did not know the origin or purpose of three aerial objects that its military shot down over the weekend, as Washington and Beijing traded accusations about high-altitude balloons.
 
Hydroman said:
I read the Tic Tac shaped vehicle also left a minty fresh exhaust trail only which allowed the F-18 crews to breath easy.
Click to expand...
They had given in to the taste

But in all seriousness, if the Tic-Tacs are not aliens, they may be possibly some of our highly-advanced techs being tested for some reason, or as a stunt or possible psyop
 
Anyways, should we make a general thread for the High-Altitude Object Incidents? They have gotten an uptick in numbers, thanks to the Chinese Balloon Incident putting NORAD and the US Military on heightened alert.

Wikipedia may not be a reliable source, but they have listed 6 incidents so far, 4 with splashdowns, and 2 without. Geographically, 4 have appeared around North America, 1 in Central America, and 1 in China

List of high-altitude object events in 2023 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
News on the Shandong High-Altitude Object Incident:

edition.cnn.com

China accuses US of 'illegally' flying balloons across its airspace | CNN

China has accused the United States of "illegally" flying high-altitude balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since January 2022, claims that drew an immediate rebuttal from the White House, as bilateral tensions flare in the fallout from a Chinese balloon that was shot down by American...
edition.cnn.com edition.cnn.com

abc7chicago.com

US rejects China accusation: 'We are not flying balloons over China'

China accused the United States of flying spy balloons into its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the start of 2022.
abc7chicago.com abc7chicago.com

ijr.com

Chinese Military Scrambles Into Action - Preparing to Engage New Unknown Object

China claims there is an unknown object off its coast and has issued a warning to fishing boats that it will be shooting it down.
ijr.com ijr.com
 
I had a sighting today in Michigan. Driving down the freeway to my kids school after work, I saw a huge silver balloon at least 25 to 30 feet wide floating over the freeway about 100 feet up. I saw it from about a mile away and it wasn't until maybe a half mile away was I able to identify what it was. It was so low that i could of popped it with a BB gun. It was a very weird shape not spherical.... Kind of a blob with long silver appendages all over it. About maybe 8 or 9 miles from Selfridge air base.

But nothing anywhere in the news about a new balloon over Michigan.

I could identify the area I believe it was launched from if I had to speak to anyone.

I think there are people within conus who don't have good intentions.
 
rooster said:
I had a sighting today in Michigan. Driving down the freeway to my kids school after work, I saw a huge silver balloon at least 25 to 30 feet wide floating over the freeway about 100 feet up. I saw it from about a mile away and it wasn't until maybe a half mile away was I able to identify what it was. It was so low that i could of popped it with a BB gun. It was a very weird shape not spherical.... Kind of a blob with long silver appendages all over it. About maybe 8 or 9 miles from Selfridge air base.

But nothing anywhere in the news about a new balloon over Michigan.

I could identify the area I believe it was launched from if I had to speak to anyone.

I think there are people within conus who don't have good intentions.
Click to expand...
Ohhh boi, one can only imagine just how many more unreported balloons are actually present in US airspace
 
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Simple explanation I've red in a French media:
NORAD since its inception has been focused on high and fast targets: from jets to missiles. Balloons, drones and other veeery slow targets were not watched or not too much.
Over the last three weeks however the focus is much sharper - and thus the number of targets (and false alerts) probably has risen tremendously. They just have tightened their grip from relaxed to "full war status".
 
Don't forget copycats. This kind of coverage will undoubtedly raise the interest of prankster and troubled people. Let's remind for once the Monoliths.
 
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Cold War Balloons​

The first indication that the U.S.S.R. had a nuclear program was an intelligence report of 1948 about production of high purity calcium metal at I.G. Farben-Bitterfeld (East Germany) to help the Soviets produce 60 tons of metallic uranium per month and to produce enough plutonium to fuel a nuclear device.

In April 1948, Stuart Symington, Secretary of U.S. Air Force, was expressing his concern about the construction in Chukotskii-Siberia of new bases for the Tupolev Tu-4 strategic bombers of the Dal’naya Aviatsiya.

The Air Force Directorate of Intelligence recommended a program of border reconnaissance flying outside Soviet territory, using oblique photographic techniques. Some Boeing RB-29 and PB4Y2 Privateer long range spy planes were used in Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) missions over the Baltic Sea and the Sea of Japan and one RF-80A from Misawa AFB was used in photographic sorties over Sakhalin, Kuril Islands and Vladivostok.

The British were also highly active using their RB-45 and Lincoln bombers in ELINT sorties over Soviet territory. Some Meteor PR.10 and D.H. Venom spy planes were used for photographic sorties over the East German border; the Spitfires PR.XIX flew at high altitude over Hainan Island, Murmanks and Baltic States; one Mosquito PR.34 was flown over Ukraine from airfield in Iraq, and some D.H. Chipmunk light planes were flying at low level over Soviet installations at Berlin Control Zone.

One Swedish Spitfire PR.XIX flew at 40,000 ft. over the Soviet-Finnish border carrying SKa10 and SKa12 cameras. But they had no information about what was going in the vast interior of the U.S.S.R. territory.

Some British RB-45 and Canberra PR.3 spy planes flew deep penetration missions into Soviet air space, to collect electronic intelligence, using a crude form of stealth with radar-absorbent paint MX-410 to get through the Token radar defenses.

It was a dangerous game, and 51 spy planes were destroyed by Soviet fighters between August 1946 and July 1960.

Under the codename Project Mogul, the USAAF conducted long range detection tests of Soviet nuclear detonations, using high-altitude weather balloons that carried low frequency acoustic detectors to the stratosphere. Between June 4, 1947 and October 5, 1948 eight Moguls were launched from Holloman AFB (New Mexico) but the experiment did not get any results.

From an exclusively technological point of view, the Cold War started on August 29, 1949 at Semipalatinsk-Kazakhstan when the first Soviet atomic bomb detonated at 07:00 local time and ended on July 24, 1969 at 2,660 km east of Wake Island when the Apollo11- Columbia’s drogue parachutes were deployed at 05:44 local time.

On September 3, 1949, a Boeing WB-29 weather reconnaissance plane detected radiological debris during a routine flight from Japan to Alaska. Twenty days later the White House announced the evidence of an atomic explosion occurred in the U.S.S.R.

Under the codename Project Skyhook, the U.S. Navy developed a new type of weather balloon in 1947, with 300 ft. of diameter, made with polyethylene. The Skyhook balloons attained altitudes of 100,000 ft. at a time when the service ceiling of the Lavochkin La-9, the best Soviet fighter, was just 35,400 ft.

The U.S. Navy decided to use them in spy flights over the Soviet Union. The RAND Corporation started an extensive testing program to develop different elements that compounded the reconnaissance system: nuclear particles detectors, photographic equipment, ELINT sensors, tracking devices, parachutes, and recovery planes.

The project was denominated Gopher in 1950, Moby Dick in 1952, Grandson in 1953, Grayback in 1954 and Genetrix (the operational phase) in 1956, with launch sites in Scotland, Norway, West Germany, and Turkey.

Between January and March of 1956, 516 Skyhook balloons were launched carrying DMQ Perkin-Elmer cameras, but only 44 of them, with 13,000 photographs, were recovered over the Pacific by the C-119F airplanes of the 456th Wing. The photographs covered only the 8 per cent of the Soviet territory.

Some Skyhook balloons were detected by the Soviet radar but the 57,400 ft. ceiling of the MiG-19S was insufficient to intercept them.
 
Archibald said:
La-Fuente Technologies said:
TomcatViP said:
Don't forget copycats. This kind of coverage will undoubtedly raise the interest of prankster and troubled people. Let's reminde for once the Monoliths.
Click to expand...
That's definitely gonna happen. Some people just want to watch the world burn, it seems
Click to expand...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebYA4cj6MiE
Click to expand...
Ohhhh, a fellow guy that either knows the MCU or just the meme parts of it. Either way, nice!
 
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It is POSSIBLE that compensation has been arranged on the QT, embarrassment all around otherwise.
 
Charlesferdinand said:
edwest3 said:
www.nbcnews.com

White House says a leading explanation for the 3 downed unidentified objects is that they were commercial or benign

The three objects have not yet been recovered, said the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, who explained that the conditions to access the debris are very difficult.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com
Click to expand...
IDK, but if these were commercial or research balloons, you'd expect someone somewhere to make a claim for damages.
Click to expand...
Not if the associated operations were/are clandestine for competitive or other reasons.
 
There were a few reports (based on observations by the intercepting pilots) the 'octagonal object' which was shot down over lake Huron, had some kind of 'strings' hanging underneath. Maybe such 'strings' could indicate it 'escaped' from somewhere without intent, e.g. due to bad weather like a storm or something... In case the downed 'object' did not belong to a US (or a Canadian) governmental organisation and assuming it was nothing but 'benign', maybe the people/organisations responsible for it´s 'escape' just want to stay off the radar (as well), as having 'forgotten' to report it´s escapade to the proper authorities might have endangered air traffic. And maybe they could even be held responsible for the costs of the authorities having to scramble jets to bring it down, and for the costs of the search/salvage operation as well? (Just some thoughts / more speculation.)
 
At some Top Secret office deep in the Pentagon.

"Do you think we should publish a recognition journal for pilots showing various balloon configurations in different lighting conditions?"

Nah, we'll just tell 'em to shoot them down.
 
edwest3 said:
So, they should file flight plans for all balloon flights. All of them.
Click to expand...

This. If your balloon is operating at civil aircraft altitudes you should be wearing a radar transponder. There are often balloon tracks on Flightradar24, even when they nominally above air traffic.

It’s more likely rather than suing for damages that the associated party will be charged for the AIM9.
 
The following was not actually published:

Journal of Balloon Recognition - A photo guide with descriptions showing all balloon types by country. Restricted.

This publication was produced in response to recent balloon overflights over North American airspace. Aside from national security concerns, some balloons could pose a threat to safe flight by military and commercial aircraft. Balloons that are too small to cause a flight hazard are listed by type.

I still say F-22s should be fitted with Multiple Spear Launchers. I mean it's not like the balloon is going to outmaneuver it.
 
Orionblamblam said:
Launching a *lot* of dirt-cheap balloons with radar reflectors is a fantastic way to tie up USAF resources.
Click to expand...

Meanwhile over Ukraine...
www.reuters.com

Kyiv says it shot down Russian balloons over Ukraine's capital

Six Russian balloons were spotted over Kyiv and most were shot down after being engaged by air defences, the Ukrainian capital's military administration said on Wednesday.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

"Six Russian balloons were spotted over Kyiv and most were shot down after being engaged by air defences, the Ukrainian capital's military administration said on Wednesday."
"It said the balloons may have been carrying corner reflectors and reconnaissance equipment but did not specify when they flew over the capital, although air alerts were issued in Kyiv on Wednesday."
"Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said ... 'The enemy wants us to use our air defences, which protect our strategic objects, on these balloons, which cost nothing.' "
 
edwest3 said:
At some Top Secret office deep in the Pentagon.

"Do you think we should publish a recognition journal for pilots showing various balloon configurations in different lighting conditions?"

Nah, we'll just tell 'em to shoot them down.
Click to expand...
 

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edwest3 said:
So, they should file flight plans for all balloon flights. All of them.
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Not above 60kft. Although cross border flight at those height are obviously still tight to foreign airspace crossing rules (request before crossing).
 
Speculation that at least one of the balloons may have been a ham radio balloon. It would have been small enough to not require FAA clearance for launch and seems to have gone dark about the right time.

The US Air Force may have shot down an Amateur Radio Pico Balloon over Canada

Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now suspected by officials to be 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico'...
www.rtl-sdr.com
 
apnews.com

Biden wants 'sharper rules' on unknown aerial objects

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects, following three weeks of high-stakes drama sparked by the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting much of the country.
apnews.com apnews.com
 
TomS said:
Speculation that at least one of the balloons may have been a ham radio balloon. It would have been small enough to not require FAA clearance for launch and seems to have gone dark about the right time.

The US Air Force may have shot down an Amateur Radio Pico Balloon over Canada

Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now suspected by officials to be 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico'...
www.rtl-sdr.com
Click to expand...
Steve Trimble Aviation week article
https://twitter.com/x/status/1626364229363109888
View: https://twitter.com/DecampDave/status/1626364229363109888?t=OrQ305dezgq85JbpdcHf5g&s=19
 
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jeffb said:
TomS said:
Speculation that at least one of the balloons may have been a ham radio balloon. It would have been small enough to not require FAA clearance for launch and seems to have gone dark about the right time.

The US Air Force may have shot down an Amateur Radio Pico Balloon over Canada

Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now suspected by officials to be 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico'...
www.rtl-sdr.com
Click to expand...
Steve Trimble Aviation week article
https://twitter.com/x/status/1626364229363109888
View: https://twitter.com/DecampDave/status/1626364229363109888?t=OrQ305dezgq85JbpdcHf5g&s=19
Click to expand...
Such a shame that sudden hysteria and caution for any possible spy balloons is now costing some innocent balloons to be shot down. As much as we must take caution, proper Intelligence capabilities must also be taken so that one can easily tell which balloons are just civilian or research balloons, and which ones are suspicious
 
La-Fuente Technologies said:
jeffb said:
TomS said:
Speculation that at least one of the balloons may have been a ham radio balloon. It would have been small enough to not require FAA clearance for launch and seems to have gone dark about the right time.

The US Air Force may have shot down an Amateur Radio Pico Balloon over Canada

Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now suspected by officials to be 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico'...
www.rtl-sdr.com
Click to expand...
Steve Trimble Aviation week article
https://twitter.com/x/status/1626364229363109888
View: https://twitter.com/DecampDave/status/1626364229363109888?t=OrQ305dezgq85JbpdcHf5g&s=19
Click to expand...
Such a shame that sudden hysteria and caution for any possible spy balloons is now costing some innocent balloons to be shot down. As much as we must take caution, proper Intelligence capabilities must also be taken so that one can easily tell which balloons are just civilian or research balloons, and which ones are suspicious
Click to expand...
Crazy stuff. Someone pointed out that an F-22 costs something like $80,000 an hour to operate and AIM-9X are $450,000+ per round.
 
Just came across this,

The US Air Force may have shot down an Amateur Radio Pico Balloon over Canada

Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now suspected by officials to be 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico'...
www.rtl-sdr.com

There is speculation that at least one of the objects shot down over Canada, Yukon by a US Air Force jet may have been amateur radio pico balloon K9YO-15 which was launched from Illinois on October 10 2022. It was on it's seventh circumnavigation of the globe after being aloft for 123 days.

The launch blog post indicates that the K9YO-15 balloon was flying a silver mylar 32" sphere SAG balloon which appears to be this one from balloons.online. Unlike latex or rubber weather balloons which inflate and stretch as they rise into lower atmospheric pressures, these mylar balloons can't stretch, so their fully inflated ground size will be the same as their size at high altitudes, meaning the pico balloon won't get much bigger than 32". The payload was a GPS module, Arduino, SI5351 used as a WSPR and APRS transmitter and a solar panel, all together weighing 16.4 grams. A pentagon memo notes that the object shot down over Canada was a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" which fits the description of the pico balloon exactly.
Click to expand...

Which contains link to,

nibbb.org

K9YO Launched October 10th 2022, 18:00 UTC 2pm CDT

Ken Daniel, K9YO one of our newest members of the NIBBB has launched his Pico Balloon. The launch was from Independence Grove in Libertyville, Illinois. K9YO launched at 18:00 UTC, received the fir…
nibbb.org nibbb.org
Ken is using his low tech, Arduino based tracker, a 6 solar panel package, each cell is 1″x1-1/2″ The total payload weight is 16.4 grams with an additional free lift of 7.5 grams. Ken is flying the silver 32″ Sphere, SAG balloon from Balloons Online using Helium Gas.
Click to expand...
...
Congratulations to Ken, K9YO on this successful launch. Ken’s last Pico Balloon had flown for 60 days. We’ll be following and writing about AA6DY and K9YO here at NIBBB. Also we’re waiting on our new Data for winter travel before launching our Kids Pico Balloons, more to follow.
Click to expand...

Looks like the Defense Department may owe Ken a new Arduino board.
Personally, I think Ken should be given a fighter flight where he gets to push the button to launch a Sidewinder at a USAF target drone.
 
southwestforests said:
Just came across this,

The US Air Force may have shot down an Amateur Radio Pico Balloon over Canada

Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now suspected by officials to be 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico'...
www.rtl-sdr.com

There is speculation that at least one of the objects shot down over Canada, Yukon by a US Air Force jet may have been amateur radio pico balloon K9YO-15 which was launched from Illinois on October 10 2022. It was on it's seventh circumnavigation of the globe after being aloft for 123 days.

The launch blog post indicates that the K9YO-15 balloon was flying a silver mylar 32" sphere SAG balloon which appears to be this one from balloons.online. Unlike latex or rubber weather balloons which inflate and stretch as they rise into lower atmospheric pressures, these mylar balloons can't stretch, so their fully inflated ground size will be the same as their size at high altitudes, meaning the pico balloon won't get much bigger than 32". The payload was a GPS module, Arduino, SI5351 used as a WSPR and APRS transmitter and a solar panel, all together weighing 16.4 grams. A pentagon memo notes that the object shot down over Canada was a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" which fits the description of the pico balloon exactly.
Click to expand...

Which contains link to,

nibbb.org

K9YO Launched October 10th 2022, 18:00 UTC 2pm CDT

Ken Daniel, K9YO one of our newest members of the NIBBB has launched his Pico Balloon. The launch was from Independence Grove in Libertyville, Illinois. K9YO launched at 18:00 UTC, received the fir…
nibbb.org nibbb.org
Ken is using his low tech, Arduino based tracker, a 6 solar panel package, each cell is 1″x1-1/2″ The total payload weight is 16.4 grams with an additional free lift of 7.5 grams. Ken is flying the silver 32″ Sphere, SAG balloon from Balloons Online using Helium Gas.
Click to expand...
...
Congratulations to Ken, K9YO on this successful launch. Ken’s last Pico Balloon had flown for 60 days. We’ll be following and writing about AA6DY and K9YO here at NIBBB. Also we’re waiting on our new Data for winter travel before launching our Kids Pico Balloons, more to follow.
Click to expand...

Looks like the Defense Department may owe Ken a new Arduino board.
Personally, I think Ken should be given a fighter flight where he gets to push the button to launch a Sidewinder at a USAF target drone.
Click to expand...

Yep, posted that yesterday morning.
 
Hey Richard!

I dare ya to pull this stunt now:

UFO sighting | Virgin

What should you do for April Fools? We had an idea to make people smile, and April 1st was coming up fast on the calendar.
www.virgin.com www.virgin.com

Aww…come on
 
publiusr said:
Hey Richard!

I dare ya to pull this stunt now:

UFO sighting | Virgin

What should you do for April Fools? We had an idea to make people smile, and April 1st was coming up fast on the calendar.
www.virgin.com www.virgin.com

Aww…come on
Click to expand...
A virgin UFO sighting, could be rare, not with 1.5 billion in population? Oh, you are talking about Branson.
 

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