Chinese Spy Balloon Over Montana?

Pretty strange story happening now.  A Chinese balloon, or two, seem to be floating across America.  Why don’t we just shoot it down?  Evidently, Chinese media is mocking American military ineptitude.  No doubt it seems to make us appear weak.

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 Why doesn't the US just shoot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon floating around parts of the country like a growing chorus of GOP lawmakers, as well as former President Donald Trump, are demanding?

Because it's not that simple, a former Navy pilot told Insider.

Attempting to take out the high-altitude balloon with the air defense systems the US has is "very difficult," it's hard to engage it with fighter aircraft, and shooting it down also risks injuries and fatalities on the ground, explained Brynn Tannehill, a former naval aviator and senior technical analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank.

Balloons like the one that was spotted this week over the continental US can operate at more than 100,000 feet, and according to Tannehill, most US anti-air weapons systems were not "designed" to eliminate targets that high up.

Most systems "weren't designed to shoot down things operating at the kinds of high altitude balloons can operate at," Tannehill said, explaining that an aircraft would likely struggle to get close enough to it to get within gun range, either.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said on Friday that the Chinese balloon is estimated to be operating at about 60,000 feet, "well above the range of civilian air traffic or where civilian air traffic would normally fly." That puts it in range of some systems, but there are other challenges. And it is still a potential stretch for many fighter aircraft.

https://news.yahoo.com/shooting-down-suspected-chinese-spy-210053701.html