Another ‘Kill’ for America!

 

Paint two balloons under the cockpit of our F-22s

by William Astore Posted onFebruary 12, 2023

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.

Good gawd, apparently another balloon fell victim to a missile launched from an F-22, this time over Alaska.

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a Chinese war balloon!

Details are sketchy, but what’s clear is that the Biden administration is touting decisive action against what was apparently another balloon/surveillance instrument, most likely from China.

This is all about domestic politics. About the Biden administration "looking strong" by shooting down Chinese balloons (assuming the latest UFO was indeed another balloon).

The question is: Have these balloons truly been threats to U.S. national security? To my knowledge, they are not threats.

I’ve heard these balloons could be used for signals intelligence, but even if true, it seems a very crude method. The US military has far more sophisticated techniques for SIGINT.

(An aside: China could mass produce balloons, release them toward the US, then watch us exhaust our limited F-22 fleet and our air-to-air missiles. Would we be that stupid?)

I never pictured America’s most sophisticated air superiority fighter, the F-22 Raptor, chasing and shooting down floating balloons in the sky, but here we are.

I love this quotation, courtesy of NBC News: “Do we have a plan for the next time that happens and how we’re going to deal with it?” Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., asked defense officials testifying Thursday on Capitol Hill about the alleged spy balloons. “Because, quite frankly, I’ll just tell you: I don’t want a damn balloon going across the United States.”

No more “damn” balloons floating over America! Mister President, we cannot allow a spy(?) balloon gap!

When you think about it, why is this even news? This could easily have been kept quiet.

Again, I come back to domestic politics. Biden was criticized for not acting fast enough on the previous balloon, so now we must shoot down all balloons as soon as they enter US air space. And we must announce it too, as if it’s a great achievement.

Hooray, America! Paint two balloons as "kills" on the side of our F-22s. Airpower!

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views.

https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2023/02/12/another-kill-for-america/