Well, this story just gets better and better. If – and I stress the ‘if’ part – we can believe
General Glen D. VanHerck (Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), the Chinese have floated balloons over the US multiple times … that we know of.
A senior U.S. general responsible for bringing down a Chinese spy balloon said on Monday the military had not detected previous spy balloons before the one that appeared on Jan. 28 over the United States and called it an "awareness gap."
The Pentagon said over the weekend that Chinese spy balloons had briefly flown over the United States at least three times during President Donald Trump's administration and one previously under President Joe Biden.
Air Force General Glen VanHerck, head of U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command, said the balloon was 200 feet tall and the payload under it weighed a couple thousand pounds.
"I will tell you that we did not detect those threats, and that's a domain awareness gap," VanHerck said.[1]
We are basing our entire military future and national security/existence on total battlefield awareness, data, surveillance, and networking and yet a simple balloon has eluded our detection at least four times … that we know of. How many other times did it occur that we never became aware of?
Our very best surveillance equipment, networks, and software couldn’t see a balloon.
These were not tiny little children’s birthday party balloons. As Gen. VanHerck stated, the balloons were 200 ft tall with slung payloads of a couple thousand pounds. How do you not detect that? How many people on this site have claimed that our various radar systems can spot aircraft and ships hundreds of miles away … and yet we can’t see a giant balloon? Heck, we claim to be able to spot tiny submarine periscopes in the middle of the ocean with our all-knowing, all-seeing radar … but we can’t see a giant balloon.
How many people on this site have claimed that carriers are a thing of the past, just waiting to be sunk, because satellites will be able to track carrier groups anywhere in the ocean … and yet none of our satellites could see a giant balloon slowly drifting towards and across America for days on end?
Do you people who believe in the omniscience of our radars and detection systems see the ignorance of your claims?
Consider these previous examples of our vaunted systems being unable to see what’s in front of them:
Yemen Missile Attacks – Recall that the Navy claimed that the Burke class destroyer, USS Mason, was attacked multiple times by anti-ship missiles from Yemen. In reality, despite all the sensors in the region, satellite surveillance, Aegis radar, etc., the Navy was unable to even decide whether an attack had occurred despite the ship launching several defensive missiles (see, “Yemen Missile Attacks").
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 – This commercial aircraft disappeared without a trace in the middles of one of the most heavily monitored regions of the world. Searchers had no clue where to even begin looking.
Balloons – Apparently, there were four previous balloons that entered US airspace undetected.
Destroyer Collisions – As you know, two Burke class destroyers collided with giant merchant ships during simple sailing.
If these examples of large objects, none of which were making any attempt to evade, couldn’t be detected, why are assuming we can detect enemy forces that are stealthy and making every effort to hide? Our entire foundation of future warfare is invalid.
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[1]Newsmax website, “General: US Failed to Detect Past Chinese Spy Balloons”, 6-Feb-2023,
https://www.newsmax.com/us/china-spy-balloon/2023/02/06/id/1107478/
