https://twitter.com/aviation_intel/status/162414986417840128...
Also that we are seeing a lot more now because we have turned down/off the filters on the radars. Which means also we can expect a lot more false positives.
https://twitter.com/aviation_intel/status/162461466198661120...
This whole thing is just genius on so many levels. Exploit the stigma about aliens by constructing small drones and make them appear wacky beyond belief to guarantee they'll go unreported. Exploit the radar filters for small and slow moving craft with motionless soft balloons. And it worked brilliantly.
> I believe that those in power who snicker about credible reports of strange objects in the sky and stymie research into them, including access to classified data, have become a threat to national security themselves. Their lack of imagination, curiosity, and creativity appears to have built a near-perfect vacuum that our enemies could exploit and likely have exploited to an astonishing degree.
Perhaps we can, but clearly we can expect to find actual UAVs corresponding to these radar signals.
If these UAVs that have been shot down were domestic research balloons or some other aircraft exempt from FAA regulation, then we can expect a party to come forward and publicly acknowledge ownership/control of the UAV.
However, based on the descriptions of the object over Alaska it seems very likely there are indeed unmanned drones being operated by foreign governments and not domestic weather/research balloons or FAA compliant unregistered domestic aircraft.
Keep in mind that not only US or Canada launches weather balloons. These things are well capable of flying huge distances, including across the oceans. There has been one launched by amateur radio operators a few years ago that has circumnavigated the globe - and that's not at all a rare feat.
See e.g.:
https://qrp-labs.com/circumnavigators.html
So no need to go all conspirationalist about "unmanned drones operated by foreign governments" just yet. Especially given the distances and altitudes these things were found flying at - a heavier than air device would need a ton of fuel and energy to fly that high and that far, so a "drone" that at the same time doesn't look like an aircraft is rather unlikely.
It is not a tinfoil hat theory to point out that a balloon that is not playing by weather balloon rules is not a weather balloon. Route planning hasn't suddenly gotten more difficult in the past week.
This may be true, but it's awful hard to get visual confirmation and then shoot down a false positive.
That's easy to say, but does anyone know how many objects appear when you drop the filter? Yes, the military has a huge budget, but it's not unlimited. My guess is when you lower the filter you're met with so many objects that you couldn't possibly address them all with the resources you have available.
Imagine you have 10 resources to deploy and a screen with 100 objects to investigate. You lower the filter and there are now a million objects to investigate. It's not hard to understand why the filters were in place and saying they were "asleep" is silly. There have probably been people at the DoD asking for more resources ($) to remove the filters for years.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/23733/spacex-exec-says...
The only new aspect is that you are being told about it. Which is unfortunately probably not a good sign. At best it will be only used to justify the purchase of some expensive "hi tech" boondoggle to counter these... balloons.