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• US shoots down alleged Chinese spy balloon
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According to the WSJ, who cited a Congressional aide, this time it was an F-16 to shoot down the object, that appeared to be shaped like an octagon and was flying at 20,000 feet, posing a threat to commercial aircraft flying in the area.

The engagement marks the fourth time an object was shot down over North America since a (supected) Chinese spy balloon was shot down on Feb. 2 over the Atlantic Ocean, after crossing CONUS from west to east.

The first one was the famous Chinese high altitude balloon shot down on February 4, 2023, at 2:39 p.m. by an F-22 Raptor, belonging to the 1st Fighter Wing from Langley Air Force Base, shot down with an AIM-9X infrared-guided air-to-air missile off the coast of South Carolina and within U.S. territorial airspace. The second one was a "high altitude object" described as "cylindrical and silver-ish gray" and appeared to be floating, that was shot down by F-22 launched from Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson on Feb. 10 over Alaska. The third object was shot down on Feb. 11 over Yukon, Canada. According to some reports, the objects shot down over Alaska and Yukon (second and third downing) were too balloon, although the size of both was smaller than the Chinese one shot down in Feb. 4.

This is how this Author commented the third object being shot down yesterday. It still applies today:

"For the moment we can't but notice the trend is concerning. What's particularly interesting is that while the first one was clearly a balloon, the second and third remain unidentified, hence possibly belonging to the category of the so-called UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena). Are these objects unmanned aircraft unleashed to spy on the U.S.? Maybe. For sure something is happening and after the criticism caused by the response to the China's spy balloon (that flew over the U.S. for days before being shot down over the Atlantic Ocean), NORAD has engaged the "intruders" earlier (off the coast of Alaska, over territorial waters on Feb. 10; most probably over an unpopulated area in Canada, on Feb. 11)."

The number of engagement might be on a raising trend since monitoring of the airspace has been improved following the Chinese balloon incident. Most probably, ROE (Rules of Engagement) have also been changed, leading to early "decommission" of the unidentified object.

Dealing with the asset used to shoot down the "objects", the F-22s were used for very high altitude objects: as the altitude of the "zombie" (as an unidentified aircraft is called in the fighter pilot lingo) has decreased, more "traditional" fighters, namely the F-16s, could be used to destroy the "intruder".

US politicians are "held captive by their own propaganda" and still believe that Washington could deliver a fatal nuclear 'first strike' against Russia, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, has said.

That Cold War-era strategy, however, is nothing but a "dangerous" and "short-sighted" delusion nowadays, Patrushev said in an interview with the newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta published on Monday.

"Held captive by their own propaganda, American politicians for some reason remain confident that in the event of a direct conflict with Russia, the US is capable of delivering a preventive missile strike, after which Russia will no longer be able to respond. This is a short-sighted delusion, and a very dangerous one," Patrushev stated.

The 'first strike' strategy dates back to the early days of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the US. Its proponents believe that achieving a certain advantage in nuclear warheads and means of delivery would allow a preemptive strike on an adversary without suffering an equally destructive retaliation. The concept was among the primary reasons behind the Cold War-era arms race, with both sides fearing a first strike at various points.

Nowadays, however, Russia possesses state-of-the-art weapons that Patrushev warned are capable of defeating any opponent, should the country's existence be threatened.

"Forgetting the lessons of history, some in the West are already talking about revanche, which will lead to a military victory over Russia," he stated.

Moreover, Moscow no longer believes it would be "appropriate" to help the US once again defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity should it be threatened, the security official stated.

"[Russia] saved the US at least twice - during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. But I believe that this time, helping the US to maintain its integrity would be inappropriate," Patrushev said.