Tag: surveillance

By Shooting Down Balloon, the Expensive, Useless F-22 Fighter Finally Won a Dogfight

When it officially entered military service in 2005, the U.S. Air Force hailed the F-22 Raptor as an “exponential leap in warfighting capabilities.”

American taxpayers ultimately paid $67 billion to buy 187 of the planes, which had been in development since 1986 “to project air dominance, rapidly and at great distances” with technical capabilities that “cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft.”

On Saturday, the F-22 scored its first-ever victory against an airborne adversary when it shot down…a balloon.

There may not be a better metaphor for the costly grandiosity of the American military than the use of a multi-million-dollar fighter jet to dispatch an unarmed, unmaneuverable opponent. But the fact that the F-22 had never won a dogfight before its decisive victory over what may or may not have been a Chinese spy balloon is a nice illustration of why the United States has the world’s most expensive military by a massive margin.

In short, it’s because the Pentagon buys lots of expensive toys that have no use.

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Amid Spy Balloon Controversy, Biden Admin Approves $2.1 Billion Aid Package to Defend Ukrainian Skies

As national attention was captured by a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the United States, the Biden administration has approved another $2.1 billion military aid package to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense arsenal.

The package includes $425 million in arms and equipment drawn from existing U.S. stockpiles, as well as $1.75 billion in Ukraine Assistance Security Initiative (UASI) funds, which Ukraine can use to purchase new weapons—particularly those related to air defense—from manufactures contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense.

In Friday’s announcement, the Pentagon said the package includes “critical air defense capabilities to help Ukraine defend its people.”

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US military shoots down Chinese spy balloon over Atlantic Ocean

The U.S. military has shot down the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean.

While the balloon was off the coast of South Carolina, the balloon was shot down by U.S. military fighter jets on Saturday afternoon, according to Fox News sources. 

A senior defense official said during a Thursday afternoon briefing that the U.S. government is “confident” the surveillance balloon is from the People’s Republic of China. 

When asked about the balloon on Saturday by a reporter, Biden said “we’re going to take care of it.” 

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Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Spotted Over North Carolina; US Might Shoot It Down Over Atlantic

A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon appears to be heading toward North Carolina, according to ABC News, citing a senior US official familiar with the situation. That official said the US would probably shoot the balloon down over the Atlantic Ocean and retrieve it. 

Within the last hour, numerous Twitter users have uploaded footage of what appears to be the Chinese balloon floating above North Carolina. 

On Friday, we cited Capital Weather Gang, who accurately predicted the balloon’s trajectory while it was floating above the Midwest. Now updated predictions for Saturday morning show the balloon might be headed toward the Atlantic. 

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Chinese Spy Balloons: Potential Purposes For The High Altitude Invasion

My home state of Montana was recently featured in news feeds this week as the first to observe and identify what the US Air Force says is a Chinese spy balloon. The Chinese claim it is a civilian weather apparatus that was blown off course, but the equipment visible in photographs suggests that this is a lie. Beyond that, another similar balloon has been spotted over Latin America – one wayward high tech Chinese balloon might be believable, but two is not a coincidence.

There are numerous theories as to why such a surveillance platform would be used by the CCP and what it is designed to look for, and I thought I would offer a couple theories based on my years of study into similar projects pursued by the US Department of Defense and DARPA.

First, the immediate question is why the Biden Administration has not destroyed the balloon? Why not shoot first and ask questions later? Well, Biden’s silence on this issue suggests he either has no answers or that the truth will make the American public very angry. The most likely reason it has not been shot down is because it is very difficult or impossible to shoot down.

High-altitude balloons travel at 80,000 to 120,000 feet. The average fighter jet can hit altitudes of 65,000 feet and new generation drones can climb to 50,000 feet. These balloons also emit little to no heat signature, which makes them very difficult to target using missiles. If laser technology exists that has such a range, the US military is not talking about it. It might actually be easier to shoot down a Chinese satellite than one of these balloons.

Is there a way? It could be done perhaps with a missile using a large fragmentation-type warhead, but the White House does not seem too interested in exploring options.

Another explanation is that the DoD is waiting to see what these balloons do. This is where I would present a few theories as to their purpose. Here is what I think is most likely given the progress of spy balloon technology right now…

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Montana Authorities Address ‘Massive Explosion’ Rumors in Sky Where Chinese Spy Balloon Was Spotted

Montana officials have issued a statement saying that reports of a “massive explosion” taking place in the sky near where a Chinese spy balloon was spotted are inaccurate after a video went viral on social media purporting to show several blasts in the sky over Billings and what could be debris falling to the ground.

Two explosions and a trail of smoke in the sky over Billings Montana, where the balloon had been flying over the region, were captured on camera on Friday.

Dolly Moore, who shot the video and shared it on Twitter, said she saw a jet zooming by “so fast” followed by explosions.

The video was shared widely on social media and was picked up by a number of cable networks, drawing speculation whether the U.S. military had shot down the spy balloon, as a number of prominent current and former officials had called for.

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Second Chinese Spy Balloon Spotted

A second Chinese spy balloon has reportedly been spotted in Latin America.

On Friday evening, the Pentagon confirmed this news. Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder made a statement to CNN.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Ryder said.

This comes as a balloon was spotted moving east, 60,000 feet above the central continental U.S., last Friday.

Initially, the Pentagon had said the balloon currently did not pose a “military or political” threat.

According to a senior defense official, the United States has “extremely high confidence” that the object was a Chinese high-altitude balloon that was flying over key locations to gather intelligence. One of the states where the balloon was noticed was Montana, which is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, one of the country’s three nuclear missile silo fields.

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‘Explosion in the sky’ above Billings Montana where Chinese spy balloon was spotted infiltrating U.S airspace – as residents report seeing jet zoom by after officials came under fire for refusing to shoot it down

An explosion in the sky over Billings Montana, where a Chinese spy balloon has been flying over the region, was caught on camera Friday. 

Mysterious video of the aftermath shows a trail of smoke in the sky where the balloon was last spotted. 

Dolly Moore, who took video of the scene, said she ‘saw a jet go by so fast and then explosion in the sky.’

As the video spread on social media, Defense officials have said the balloon over Montana has not exploded.  

It comes after the US State Department called the balloon, which was traveling over U.S. airspace at 60,000 feet, a ‘clear violation’ of U.S. sovereignty, but said it wouldn’t be shot down because it was flying over a ‘number of sensitive sites.’

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The Federal Government Is Tracking Unvaccinated People Who Go To The Doctor And To The Hospital Due to CDC-Designed Surveillance Program

The U.S. federal government is tracking people who decided not to get the COVID-19 vaccine injection, according to bombshell federal government records and video exclusively obtained by NATIONAL FILE. According to the shocking video, unvaccinated people are quietly tracked when they go to the doctor’s office or to the hospital due to a quiet new program proposed and implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Government meeting materials make clear that the new program is designed to “track people who are not immunized or only partially immunized.”

A bombshell piece of information was revealed at the September 14-15, 2021 virtual Zoom meeting of the federal government’s ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee (which includes representatives from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known as CMS, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics). At the meeting, the Committee discussed new categories of “ICD-10” codes that the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) wanted to create to mark people as “Unvaccinated for COVID-19,” “Partially Vaccinated for COVID-19” and “Other underimmunization status.”

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EXPOSED: Shadowy Military Operation Spied on Covid Response Critics

A shadowy military operation was launched in Great Britain to conduct surveillance on Covid response critics and treat them as ‘enemies of the state.’

Military operatives in the U.K.’s ‘information warfare’ brigade were part of a “sinister operation that targeted politicians and high-profile journalists who raised doubts about the official pandemic response,” the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.

The official documents exposing the domestic espionage operation were obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. The documents were shared exclusively with the Daily Mail. They expose the inner workings of the Counter Disinformation Unit, which is based in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the Rapid Response Unit in the Cabinet Office.

Influence operations were run out of the MoD’s 77th Brigade seeking to “non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers as a means to adapt behaviours of adversaries,” according to the report.

 A whistleblower that contacted the Mail who claimed to work for the brigade said the unit had strayed far beyond its scope of targeting foreign powers. British citizens’ social media accounts were even scrutinised, which the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence, in public, has repeatedly denied doing.

The Mail reports that U.K. government justified its domestic surveillance and censorship activities as countering ‘disinformation’ and ‘harmful narratives… from purported experts.’

“The information was then used to orchestrate Government responses to criticisms of policies such as the stay-at-home order, when police were given power to issue fines and break up gatherings,” the Mail reported. “It also allowed Ministers to push social media platforms to remove posts and promote Government-approved lines.”

The Army whistleblower added: “It is quite obvious that our activities resulted in the monitoring of the UK population… monitoring the social media posts of ordinary, scared people. These posts did not contain information that was untrue or co-ordinated – it was simply fear.”

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