In todays news...

[Mr. Dazzle]

The allies sent loads of balloons to the continent in WW2. Apparently they were quite successful. One particularly good one flew quite low and trailed long wires behind it, it was designed to get tangled up in power lines and substations and cause havoc.

Didn't someone also try a balloon which was just a giant metallised sphere you can bounce radio waves off? Poor man's communication satellite.

[Mussels]

China must be amazing to send a hot air balloon thousands of miles with no way of steering it.

Not really.

General directions of wind is known eg the 'trade winds' for shipping in merchant sailing days.

Weather forecasting gives day to day variations, eg flow around high and low pressure areas.

Wind direction can vary by height, so that can be adjusted.

They shot it down today. News says they used an air-to-air missile, quite impressive that it can actually pick up a balloon (presumably quite warm due to sunlight?).

There's no explosion on the vid though, so maybe they took the warhead out, or maybe a canvas bag wasn't substantial enough to set it off! I would guess the former though, they probably want to minimise damage so they can inspect the debris.

It would have picked up all the metalwork hanging underneath, a bit of metal tied to a weather balloon is a common way to test radars.
And anti-air missiles are more about shredding the target with shrapnel than blowing it up so I wouldn't expect to see a big explosion.
They might have offset the missile to fly so many feet above the target but I'd expect that to be a bit risky as the balloons can bounce around a lot.

[JackyJoll]

They shot it down today.

“Never, in the field of human conflict…”

[Horse]

328933047_1348799239292137_2873340855365540439_n.jpg (52 KiB) Viewed 244 times

[demographic]

Boris wants Ukraine to join the EU.

“I believe that once this war is done and once the Ukrainians have won, then, yes, they should begin the process of induction both to NATO and, of course, to the EU,” says @BorisJohnson at the @AtlanticCouncil.

[MingtheMerciless]

Apparently shot down with an AIM-9X sidewinder , which is an IR or heat seeking missile. Impressive that it could lock onto a relatively cool balloon, it's also capable of manoeuvring at 60G"s (not that a balloon interception would require that level of agility). Warhead is an annular blast fragmentation that basically means a load of rods get ejected in the blast shredding whatever it hits.

[KungFooBob]

You think they'd have just put a few cannon rounds through it, left it drift back down to earth slowly.

[Count Steer]

You think they'd have just put a few cannon rounds through it, left it drift back down to earth slowly.

Huh. If they'd opened the cockpit they could have had it with a bow and arrow.

[demographic]

Chinese balloon shot down into the oggin off Myrtle Beach. Ground stop at several airports & boats told to stay the fuck away etc until it's recovered.

It's seems that there was another three Chinese baloons that weren't shot down over the US a while ago?

[Yorick]

Apparently there were 99 red ones many years ago



Ooh. Nina. Phwooaar.

[Mr. Dazzle]

You think they'd have just put a few cannon rounds through it, left it drift back down to earth slowly.

I'm not sure balloons with big holes in drift all that well

[KungFooBob]

You think they'd have just put a few cannon rounds through it, left it drift back down to earth slowly.

I'm not sure balloons with big holes in drift all that well

Only a couple of holes!

Anyway, even if it did come down a bit quicker than expected it would still be in one bit, not a million small flaming pieces.

Couple of Vulcan rounds are a bit cheaper than a sidewinder too.

[irie]

https://theconversation.com/chinese-spy ... see-199245

How do these balloons navigate?
Most of these balloons literally go where the wind blows. There can be a little bit of navigation, but there are certainly not people aboard them. They are at the mercy of whatever the weather is. They sometimes have guiding apparatus on them that change a balloon’s altitude to catch winds going in particular directions. According to reports, U.S. officials said the Chinese surveillance balloon had propellers to help steer it. If this is confirmed, it means that its operator would have much more control over the path of the balloon.

[Horse]

How do these balloons navigate?
Most of these balloons literally go where the wind blows. There can be a little bit of navigation, but there are certainly not people aboard them. They are at the mercy of whatever the weather is. They sometimes have guiding apparatus on them that change a balloon’s altitude to catch winds going in particular directions. According to reports, U.S. officials said the Chinese surveillance balloon had propellers to help steer it. If this is confirmed, it means that its operator would have much more control over the path of the balloon.

Yet again proving the value of the ignore function

China must be amazing to send a hot air balloon thousands of miles with no way of steering it.

Not really.

General directions of wind is known eg the 'trade winds' for shipping in merchant sailing days.

Weather forecasting gives day to day variations, eg flow around high and low pressure areas.

Wind direction can vary by height, so that can be adjusted.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Fun little fact about trade winds.

"Trade" as in "shipping stuff around the world for profit" is named after the wind, not the other way around. Or at least, the name 'Trade' meaning something which follows a track or a path came first.

S'not what you'd think is it? Not what I'd think anyway

[Demannu]

Apparently the Spanish customs/GC have discharged weapons on Gibraltar.
Not heard if it was in self defence, but it was something to do with tobacco smugglers.

[irie]

China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US's use of military force to attack civilian unmanned airships.

[Yambo]

The big red dot on the 'G' of Gazıantep is the main quake.

[Yambo]

Another big tremor just shown up on the map Mag. 7.5 near the town of Ekinözü, north of this morning's biggy.

[demographic]

Another big tremor just shown up on the map Mag. 7.5 near the town of Ekinözü, north of this morning's biggy.

As I have no idea how far you're away from it I'll ask.
Anything noticeable where you are?