Look Up! Chinese Spy Balloon overhead

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  • toddnjoyce

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    I can't remember the last update I read on it, I just remember I haven't seen any articles titled "At Last! The F-35's Super Visibility Helmet Is Fully Operational!" yet. Ambitious technology, and the fighter's not 'crippled' by any means with its current capability, but eventually I hope they get the last bugs fixed.

    This article implies a significant change beginning with lot 15 birds this year.


    The contract announcement is too vague to verify if the DAS upgrade made it as part of TR4.

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    General Zod

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    This article implies a significant change beginning with lot 15 birds this year.


    The contract announcement is too vague to verify if the DAS upgrade made it as part of TR4.


    A lot of people like to point to the helmet system as evidence that the F-35 is a "boondoggle" but honestly it's ambitious technology that's just gonna have some teething issues. That fact that it works well under most conditions is effing impressive.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    A lot of people like to point to the helmet system as evidence that the F-35 is a "boondoggle" but honestly it's ambitious technology that's just gonna have some teething issues. That fact that it works well under most conditions is effing impressive.

    It is. I recall the original OT&E pilots had some significant spatial D challenges adapting to the camera view in the helmet. Apparently it was an opaque, not transparent, view when looking down.

    Imagine looking at your crotch and seeing nothing but blue sky and clouds instead.
     

    candcallen

    Crotchety, Snarky, Truthful. You'll get over it.
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    Little Elm
    If it was a balloon they accidentally lost control of they would have said something.

    This said, that could have been the case to begin with that the chicoms then took advantage of. In that case it's still a chicom spy balloon.

    Someone show me a weather balloon with that kind of payload.

    The truth is probably Somewhere in between. As always.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    Apparently the payload is in about 45 feet of water and the USN is looking for it. Who knows if the public will get anything on it though.


    Also, a U2 pilots took a selfie with the balloon and sent it in. It may have been how we first got knowledge of the balloon and it’s location.
    “One pilot took a selfie in the cockpit that shows both the pilot and the surveillance balloon itself, these officials said -- an image that has already gained legendary status in both NORAD and the Pentagon.”
     

    motorcarman

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    spyballoon_release.jpg
    spyballoon_howl.jpg
     

    wiredgeorge

    Older than I was yesterday!
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    At lunch of Fox news heard our own Sen. Cornpone declare that the recent uptick in UFO sightings around the country may actually be Chinese weather balloons... this is why we send that guy to Washington year after year. TERM LIMITS!
     

    General Zod

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    kbaxter60

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    Apparently over territorial waters off NE Alaska near the Canadian border. Wreckage landed on the ice and they're trying to recover it. This one was smaller and drifting at 40,000 feet.

    Wonder what the huge hurry was about?
    Why not let it drift across the entire continent and then deal with it?

    Seriously, you do have to wonder if the first one was a test and this was the re-test...
    How squishy is Dementia Joe, anyway?
     

    General Zod

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    Wonder what the huge hurry was about?
    Why not let it drift across the entire continent and then deal with it?

    I get the feeling for once the administration was paying attention to public reaction and realized they looked fucking stupid. So this time they reacted quickly...reinforcing how stupid they were with the last one.

    The convenient reason they announced is that the lower altitude was a hazard to commercial airliners...although 40,000 feet is still about 5000 feet higher than most airliners fly.
     
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