So what exactly did the US just shoot down above Alaska?

[Lenny Solidus]

Whatever these anomaly type objects are, my guess is that they were always present sat way up there in the air, and we were just never intended to witness them. Like silent scouts. Is it an attempt at a soft disclosure? I have no idea and their collection of data is only hinting to us as to what these things are - the very real impact is there are going to be a lot of very concerned people out there when they can't even realistically categorize just how these things are even staying in the air.

Either way, as the Pentagon briefing stated...

This is the first time within the United States or America airspace that Norad or United States northern Command have taken kinetic action against an airborne object.

Those words can either end up as absolutely nothing, or they could well go down in the history books.

[Lenny Solidus]

Also, the very seemingly intelligent and intentional placement of them all certainly does give pause for thought...

[Wrathbone]

Whatever these anomaly type objects are, my guess is that they were always present sat way up there in the air, and we were just never intended to witness them. Like silent scouts.

This is where it doesn't make sense to me. Yes, they're small enough to evade radar, but they're at altitudes where pilots would certainly have visibility of them, and the one in Alaska was described as having a silvery coating, which would reflect sunlight. If they're meant to stay hidden, those two factors seem entirely counterproductive.

[Lenny Solidus]

While I can agree, we also have no idea if there was something that was secreting them from direct view for so long that perhaps ended up failing or something along those lines. Hell, these could actually be entirely government known *at some level* man-made devices that were technically there for population surveillance or who the fuck knows until something royally fucked up, and the instant ever so hasty uhhh we don't know what these are direct action was required to cover it up. I honestly have no idea, known or unknown, any new developments given to us the public will probably hold very few actual answers. This could be the Truman Show end reveal for all we know.

I know that's bordering on full government conspiracy nut leanings - but given this day and age can we really put it past them?

[Achtung Englander]

given 99% of us have boring lives, I am not sure what's the point of this mass survellance. I know info is power and all that but given the vast bulk of people are pretty mundane it all seems rather pointless. I dunno.

Just to add some salt on all this
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/13/asia ... index.html

[Raid]

but they're at altitudes where pilots would certainly have visibility of them, and the one in Alaska was described as having a silvery coating, which would reflect sunlight. If they're meant to stay hidden, those two factors seem entirely counterproductive.

Depends on what they're trying to stay hidden from. If it's a mirrored rather than just "silvery" coating it might make it less observable visually, at least from the ground. It's also possible it's another government's best attempt at minimising radar detection. The coating likely doesn't make all that much of a difference when you actually get relatively close to it; from all of my flight sim reading it's actually not too difficult to spot an object floating in the sky (for a trained pilot possessing better eyes than most at least), there's only so much you can do to camouflage an object when the pilot's eyes are directed to almost the exact spot in the sky by helmet cueing systems controlled by radar.

Either way the US obviously knows more than they're making public. This all feels like pretty standard espionage and counter-espionage to me, and it probably goes on all the time. Perhaps the first one that was shot down was public enough that they needed to regain credibility by shooting down a few more just to prove that they could keep north american airspace safe, but they can't say publicly what the targets are because that would reveal too much about their early-warning capabilities.

[Animalmother]

I suppose that huge balloon could have been seeding the skies with smaller less noticable ones.

I used to work with a couple of guys who insisted that every strange thing that occurred was evidence of aliens. They and people like them must be in a state of near orgasmic panic.

[Lenny Solidus]

The problem being with people like that is that they only have to be correct one singular time.

'The USAF *really* has some explaining to do when it comes to UAP. People who are surprised at the presence of these objects haven't been paying attention.

'One of the reasons why I've been calling for changes to our sensor and reporting procedures for years.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... years.html

[Animalmother]

The problem being with people like that is that they only have to be correct one singular time.

True

I would love it to be aliens trying to make contact and really confused why the hairless monkeys keep shooting them down..I mean everyone knows balloons are fucking rad.

[Wrathbone]

I don't think it's aliens, but I'd love it if it was. Of all the possible extinction scenarios facing humanity, alien invasion is a much cooler way to go than plague or societal collapse.

[Raid]

"...the fuck are you still voting Tory for?!"

[eny]

We are already in a global conflict. How kinetic it will get is another matter.

[Lenny Solidus]

Of course there are some political leaning so called 'UFO' channels that are already deep into the fleecing with fear phase.

edit - I don't need to really go there, so retracted.

[eny]

If there are aliens, they are already more advanced than us. Fear will NOT be foremost in their intentions.

[Raid]

"Orders are in sir, they want us to kill the humans."

"Ok, wind the space window down, then lob these tungsten rods out when we're over their capital cities."