" an 'octagonal structure' with nothing visible aboard or attached such as sensors or cameras "

[speak easy]

Another aerial object, this time over Lake Huron, shot down by military

Officials said the object, initially detected Saturday night, was flying over Michigan’s upper peninsula at about 20,000 feet — an altitude and path that raised concerns about potential interference with commercial aviation.

“Out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of military leaders, President Biden directed the unidentified object be shot down,” according to the official who provided a statement on condition of anonymity.

The object was described as an “octagonal structure” with nothing visible aboard or attached such as sensors or cameras. It was shot down by an F-16 at 2:42 p.m. Sunday.

“We have no indication that it has surveillance capabilities but nor can we rule that out,” the official said. “We will work to recover it to learn more.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/12/spy-balloon-alaska-canada/

[70sEraVet]

1. If nothing else, ....

Great training for our pilots!

[chowder66]

2. Decoy to study our response?

[triron]

5. Maybe you answered my question.

[Irish_Dem]

7. Checking out our defense system.

[EX500rider]

20. Yeah I expect something like that

Trial dry runs to see if it's feasible to deliver high altitude nuclear EMP burst via balloon.

It'd make it a lot harder to figure out who sent it as opposed to a missile which you can backtrack.

[NullTuples]

22. I have to believe that at this point they're tracking these via satellite since launch?

And for all we know, there have been flybys and AWACs gathering data as soon as they get anywhere near North America. It's not like they're supersonic, even in the jet stream.

[kentuck]

27. My thoughts also...

Either China or Russia. Probably Russia, since they are building up to invade Ukraine again.

They are gathering information from US military reactions.

[FreeState]

31. Ukraine shot one down today too

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=4rP-iZXnXmmcmj6rFkFRXg




Visegrád 24
@visegrad24
·
Follow
BREAKING:

The Ukrainian Air Force has shot down a balloon launched by Russia.

[panader0]

41. Weird since wind currents are west to east generally.

It seems like a balloon launched in Russia would go away from Ukraine.

[edisdead]

49. Jet streams go all sorts of directions

[Justice matters.]

51. It could be launched from the Kaliningrad Oblast enclave.

[StoolPigeon]

29. Maybe their goal

is to eventually bring down an aircraft.

[triron]

3. Seems a bit reckless to me. If it's alien they may get upset.

Otoh why couldn't an alien craft evade getting shot down?

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

12. Doubtful its aliens

I find it hard to reconcile that a civilization with the technology to travel interstellar distances also can be shot down with what amounts to a large rocket propelled explosive arrow. Unless the "road less traveled" theory is true and humanity missed FTL and other high technology by concentrating on weapons and warfare, at which point, god help ET.

[NullTuples]

23. The balloon is camouflage, like an alien duck blind...

The moment it gets shot down, the craft inside zooms away, keeping the collapsing balloon between it and the fighter jet.


/conspiracytheory

[sarisataka]

4. Must have been a gazebo

And they shot it down using magic missile

[Cadfael]

19. It's too late

You’ve awakened the gazebo…it catches you and eats you.
(I can’t resist an abstruse D&D reference)

[NullTuples]

25. Costco CEO: "We can't beat Jeff Bezos if our aerial gazebo deliveries keep getting shot down!"

[panader0]

42. LOL

[Chainfire]

6. So what do we do when they launch 100 at once?

[NullTuples]

26. Classic sci-fi scenario: Which one is really the bad guy?

[BidenRocks]

38. Wide dispersal fragmentation missles.

Close counts.

[hunter]

39. 99 is the magic number...

[Takket]

8. giant stop sign?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Could be a prank. . . . nt

[Disaffected]

10. Hmm, one cylindrical and now one octagonal.

Maybe the Atlantic object was triangular? Someone's geometry experiment gone awry??

[speak easy]

13. next up ...

[DENVERPOPS]

37. LOL SE

I was thinking that same thing...........that's perfect.

Or, are we sure they aren't Republican Space Craft looking for those jewish laser space crafts that are starting the wildfires?????

[Brother Buzz]

14. Aliens can shapeshift, don't you know?

[Disaffected]

15. Ahh, a plausible explanation alright.

Last edited Mon Feb 13, 2023, 12:13 AM - Edit history (1)

What to expect next - cube, sphere, dodecahedron, Mobius strip, Bucky Ball?? Maybe I'll start a poll.

[Brother Buzz]

16. My Magic 8 Ball is anxiously waiting for the icosahedron

[panader0]

44. I want Mobius Strip!

They're fascinating anyway.

[Disaffected]

50. And, maybe better still, there is the Klein bottle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle

Cummon China, show us your stuff!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

52. You caused me to dig up a 22 year old bookmark...

https://www.kleinbottle.com/

[2naSalit]

30. I thought it was spherical.

[triron]

11. This is getting weird.

[rgbecker]

17. I think that the big balloon got them to change their radar frequency.

They followed the 3 bus sized balloon across the country, figured out how to get it to show up
on the screens...and now everything is showing up. Even the Octagon!

That's my guess.

[edbermac]

18. Have no fear...SHADO is on top of it.

[crickets]

32. Oh, that show was such cheesy fun to watch back in the day! Loved it. nt

[progressoid]

36. Wanda Ventham (Benedict Cumberbatch's mother) was in that show.

[hunter]

43. I used to work for them.

Wanted the purple hair job but they put me in a basement writing code.

[CloudWatcher]

21. the plan is to bankrupt us

Step 1: figure out how to get us to fire expensive missiles at really cheap to make targets
Step 2: mass produce them
Step 3: make us spend a fortune shooting them all down
Step 4: loop to step 2

[SilasSouleII]

35. Humm...

Plausible

[jaxexpat]

24. Sounds like tubes....yeah..... for enriching uranium......

they're parts for centrifugal machines, I'm sure.

[Traildogbob]

28. Come on folks

Does anyone really believe they are trying to gather intelligence over middle America, really?
That would be like trying to find a great white shark in the Appalachian mountain streams.

[Sneederbunk]

34. Not ruling out some kid's science project or Elon Musk.

[TreasonousBastard]

40. That's my thought. Some kid sending these things...

up and wondering what the fuss is about.

[Poiuyt]

46. When I was in college, we made a "UFO" out of a dry cleaning bag and some candles

We launched it on a Sat night so we could see it glow. The next morning, people who were at the frat parties talked about seeing a UFO. Tee Hee!

[TreasonousBastard]

47. It was over 10 years ago when the NY Times sent a...

crew up the Hudson to an outcrop off the Palisades Parkway where UFO sightings were at least monthly.

The intrepid reporters found a small aiport on the East bank of the Hudson where the chief controller laughed his ass off. "We know they're up there..." and they found one pilot with a string of Chrismas lights hanging off the struts just freak them out.

When the Times people went back to the saucer people, they got a lot of talk about how "that's THEIR story"

[Xoan]

45. No pictures?

[Midnight Writer]

48. Did the object have "It's A Boy!" printed on it?