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Since they've decided not to recover remains, we'll never be sure what they shot down. However, it seems very likely that they were indeed hobbyist balloons, and that they had radar reflection and radio announcement capabilities as required by existing law.

Probably not a good year to try repeating this stunt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawnchair_Larry_flight

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Seem rational so, as its a "spy balloon", I would suggest that the Chinese weren't big fans of putting transponders or radar reflectors on it. I'm not a intel analyst but seeing a BIG balloon towing a sophisticated electronics array and creating a LOT of electronic signal traffic MIGHT have been series of red flags.

I think the thing that REALLY pisses me off is the use of a $400,000 missile just for visual effect. Why the hell did they use an F22/F35 for this when we have F16/F18 all over the place in the National guard. Maybe it was the column inches in the media...

Me, just for fun, I would ask if we could have used a Global hawk with a cutter on the front to slash it :-)

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