President Biden on Thursday met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and announced a new tranche of US military aid for Ukraine that includes more cluster bombs, which are notorious for killing and maiming civilians.
Biden Gives Ukraine More Cluster Bombs During Zelensky Visit
Related:
Pentagon Exempts Ukraine Operations from Potential Government Shutdown
Military says objects are thought to have landed in difficult terrain, after hobbyists suggested one could belong to them.
US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron
Most likely, we’ll never know if they really did shoot down a pico balloon. They’re too embarrassed.
Related:
Did an F-22 shoot down an Illinois hobby group’s small radio balloon?
A military spokesperson tells NPR it’s their understanding that the FBI has spoken to the hobbyist group in question — the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, based just north of Chicago — in an apparent attempt to determine whether their small balloon might have inadvertently caused a big ruckus.
…
When the prediction showed K9YO-15 heading from Alaska over the Yukon, [Dan] Bowen said, “we really hoped it wouldn’t be intercepted. But we knew the moment that the intercept was reported, whose it was and which one it was.”
Asked if he believes the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s balloon was shot down, Bowen didn’t hesitate.
“Yes. Absolutely,” he said. “You know, I would say with 98% certainty.”
A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.
The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.
Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down By USAF
The White House acknowledged there are flying devices such as weather balloons that are ‘not nefarious at all’
White House: Three Objects the US Shot Down Could Have Been ‘Totally Benign’
Mystery Over Missing Sidewinder Missile That Failed to Shoot Down UFO
But the F-16 jet tasked with shooting the object over Lake Huron on Sunday “missed on its first attempt,” according to Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson.
Citing U.S. officials, Tomlinson wrote on Twitter that a second Sidewinder air-to-air missile was required, and it is “not clear where the first missile landed.”
A Defense Department spokesperson told Newsweek they were “certainly aware of the reporting on this,” but did not have any other details they could provide at this time. [Yet Kirby ‘can’t’ confirm that it happened]
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“The warhead is relatively small, as is the missile, limiting potential damage if it misses or something goes wrong,” [Jodi] Vittori previously told Newsweek.
National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Monday that the objects downed in Alaska and Canada “are in remote and wintry terrain,” with the object over Michigan likely to be “in very deep water in Lake Huron.” This makes salvage operations more difficult, he added.
Thanks to Dave DeCamp for this find! FYI, according to Wikipedia, the Sidewinder is almost 10 feet long, 5 inches wide, and 188 pounds. The warhead, itself, is 20.8 pounds. They’re shooting down these unidentified objects, all willy nilly, but I’m not supposed to be concerned about a missing missle?! Sorry, not sorry, this one hit too close to home! Time to look for more memes, I guess! 😅
Related:
Jet that shot down unidentified object over Lake Huron took off from Madison (missing missile was noticed when the F-16s landed back in Wisconsin)
Read More »
Airforce Spent Millions To Shot Down A Failed U.S. Weather Balloon – Biden Is Happy It Did So
So it looks like the airforce sent up an AWACS surveillance plane, a tanker and an F-22, the most expensive fighter plane ever, to fire a $400,000 Sidewinder missile to take down a failed weather balloon.
The meltdown in DC risks turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy: Routine inter-state relations becoming a full-blown crisis.
Washington inflates the China balloon threat
Related:
By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 05.02.2023
A US jet destroyed a Chinese weather balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, with US officials saying the balloon had engaged in espionage as it flew over US airspace over the past several days. Beijing insists the dirigible was just a meteorological research balloon that drifted off course.
Spycraft or Not, Shootdown of Chinese Weather Balloon Using 5th-Gen Jet Looks ‘Silly’
China is laughing at the Biden Admin! FYI, they’re launching more spy ballons! 😉
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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