Biden praises Top Gun F-22 fighter jet
pilot who shot down China spy balloon
off the coast of South Carolina with a
single missile - after the President vowed
to 'take care of it' and the FAA closed
airspace and three airports
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Ross Ibbetson
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
2/4/2023 5:42:43 PM
Joe Biden praised the Top Gun fighter jet pilot who shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina today after he vowed to 'take care of it.'
An F-22 Raptor out of Langley Air Force base took the balloon down with a single AIM-9X sidewinder missile at 2.38pm, separating its surveillance payload and sending it plummeting towards the ocean off Myrtle Beach.
Footage showed the jet screaming towards the spy aircraft before firing the missile as stunned locals watched from the coast.
An operation was underway to recover the wreckage and retrieve any valuable intelligence before it sinks into the ocean.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Lake Dweller 2/4/2023 5:50:09 PM (No. 1395045)
The US is the laughingstock of the world. And it’s dangerous to real Americans. Eff the Democrats and their mega-billionaire overlords.
33 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
udanja99 2/4/2023 6:03:34 PM (No. 1395053)
Did it really take that long for the ChiCom check to clear, Joe?
18 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
watashiyo 2/4/2023 6:08:42 PM (No. 1395056)
Why did they fail to shoot it down before it reached land? And by the time they shot it down, I'm sure all the critical data's been transmitted to CHINA for analysis. And one more, why F-22 for such slow-moving target instead of Crosman 760B from Pumpmaster currently sold at Walmart?
24 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Twinkle93 2/4/2023 6:12:20 PM (No. 1395057)
What a farce. If the balloon was floating in air at 60,000 feet and was the size of three semis, then it weighed 10 lbs or less. Just think how much storage and computing power one cell phone has.
9 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Illinois Mom 2/4/2023 6:13:41 PM (No. 1395058)
I would bet that the "Top Gun fighter jet pilot" is a bit embarrassed by getting "praise" from the POTUS for taking out a balloon. Over the ocean yet. I imagine that he may get a new nickname from his buddies in the near future.
Was there ever an explanation of that explosion over Montana last night? A single giant bottle-rocket? Sad thing is....we can't believe anything anymore?
24 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
IowaDad 2/4/2023 6:26:52 PM (No. 1395067)
What an enormous fus over a simple weather balloon! She not just ping it with a laser? Or a bb gun
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Nimby 2/4/2023 6:29:42 PM (No. 1395068)
After the Chinese snooped over us for 7 days?? You get no points Biden
17 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
janjan 2/4/2023 6:30:45 PM (No. 1395069)
Sure after it already crossed the entire country. Great job idiots.
16 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Cardsfan 2/4/2023 6:31:30 PM (No. 1395071)
I saw a report that there was a seven mile debris field? How is that possible, unless it was wired to blow up when it reached a lower altitude. If that’s the case it pretty much destroys the “weather balloon” story.
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Hazymac 2/4/2023 6:32:14 PM (No. 1395072)
It must have required a particularly good set of air-to-air combat skills for the F-22 pilot to have shot down a potentially deadly Chicom reconnaissance assault balloon the size of four or five school buses, floating threateningly about at around 45K feet, its cameras humming along and its hundred round drum magazines full of 9mm ball ammo. You just can't trust these people. Brandon and I are in danger of popping with unrestrained, unalloyed colonic pride, not punctuation, but mess. Wear your Gallagher raincoat and your polyethylene sheeting material over your head. A giant mallet is coming, and everything is going to get covered.
Like Ron Klain, I'm blubbering real good like Tootsie ("Dustin Hoffman") SCTV's Farm Film Celebrity Blow Up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrttPwepgp0 Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok)
6 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 2/4/2023 6:47:52 PM (No. 1395082)
Atta boy, biden you cheater. You got that first balloon. How cool is that, pal.
7 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
HerbVA 2/4/2023 6:55:12 PM (No. 1395088)
A “Top Gun” fighter is needed to shoot down a balloon with a missile? Hell, if were low enough, a kid with a .12 gauge could do the same.
10 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
PenelopeSilk 2/4/2023 6:55:24 PM (No. 1395089)
Kabuki theatre
8 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Penney 2/4/2023 6:56:50 PM (No. 1395092)
Too little, too late. Biden fails again.
9 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
DVC 2/4/2023 7:42:38 PM (No. 1395129)
Top Gun is a USN training program. There are NO F-22s in the USN, so they cannot be involved in Top Gun.
Now the USAF training exercises are called Red Flag....and that seems to be right for this. The whole damned mess was Joe helping the RED Chinese and I throw a red flag on the play.....illegal procedure by Joe and the military letting this go on until theChiComs got all the data that they wanted.
15 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Heil Liberals 2/4/2023 8:11:04 PM (No. 1395143)
Bwahahahahahahaha!!! I wonder if he will get the Air Force Cross for such heroic deeds in the most advanced fighter jet the United States has ever produced? I wonder if American Pravda will show the ticker-tape parades the pilot will be given for such a dangerous assignment? I wonder if this pilot will now complete with other highly trained F-22 pilots to become the first Chinese Spy Balloon ace?
I am sick and tired of the disgusting disregard for the intelligence of the American citizen. It only continues to prove that they hate us to our core and fiber.
7 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
czechlist 2/4/2023 8:27:56 PM (No. 1395155)
Will it be revealed that the pilot was a black trans male ?
9 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Phantomll 2/4/2023 9:08:29 PM (No. 1395173)
The F-22 is a jet fighter, NOT a "fighter jet"!!
5 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Sceptic 2/4/2023 9:26:28 PM (No. 1395187)
Wouldn't cannon fire be less expensive than a missile? Fly by, strafe the thing, Swiss cheese it, watch it float to ground, maybe the payload would be intact for testing. Naw, blast it all over the place, make it impossible to know what it was truly capable of. These people are too smart for me! smh.
7 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
chagrined 2/4/2023 9:33:55 PM (No. 1395193)
Kabuki Theater at it's finest! Was there an offset soundtrack to go with it? Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH0av1iDYVI
1 person likes this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Blue Hen1 2/4/2023 9:40:07 PM (No. 1395201)
General Medals Milley will award the Distinguished Flying Cross to our top gun pilot
1 person likes this.
After a week of learning our communication frequencies and waveforms the Chinese got a bonus - an up-close engagement with an F-22, the aircraft they respect the most and would love to learn more about.
1 person likes this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
EJKrausJr 2/4/2023 11:50:13 PM (No. 1395244)
Mission Accomplished eh Lame Duck. But your master Xi is PO'd. You in deep doo-doo now Lame Duck.
0 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
Italiano 2/5/2023 12:00:25 AM (No. 1395249)
Kudos to the pilot. He/she did his/her job.
But an Eddie Rickenbacker/Dick Bong/Duke Cunningham-esque feat? Not hardly.
1 person likes this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
DVC 2/5/2023 12:03:05 AM (No. 1395250)
Interesting that they used a AIM-9X Sidewinder. Those are far shorter range missiles than the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which indicates to me that it was very easy shot, no difficulty at all.
They could have done this over Montana with near zero risk to people on the ground. That excuse is BS.
They wanted to be sure no civilians to see this wreckage before the military can get there to cover up the facts.
Drop it in Montana and some rancher is likely to find it before they do, and put pix on the net. They can't have that. Joe has strict orders from ChiComs.
2 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
nerdowell 2/5/2023 12:42:18 AM (No. 1395272)
Brandon, eventually, spent a $600K piece of hardware to bring down...
a balloon.
Were they trying to destroy evidence?
1 person likes this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
mifla 2/5/2023 5:15:03 AM (No. 1395298)
The pilot will paint a balloon on the side of his cockpit. Four more and he will be an ace.
Biden will invite Tom Cruise to the WH for a photo op.
Hollywood will make a movie of the event and call it "Red Dawn".
3 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 2/5/2023 6:52:46 AM (No. 1395336)
This is Monty Python from Hell.
0 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
franq 2/5/2023 7:06:05 AM (No. 1395346)
That's funny, #27.
0 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
5 handicap 2/5/2023 7:08:07 AM (No. 1395348)
Since the balloon itself has no metal parts it allot be targeted, only the electronics. So all there valuable information that was not already sent to China has been destroyed...Way to go Brandon. A BB gun would have been the better option? What an Asshat we have in the Oval Office!
1 person likes this.
Reply 31 - Posted by:
5 handicap 2/5/2023 7:18:18 AM (No. 1395352)
damned autocorrect..the above should read it CANNOT be targeted not: it ALLOT be targeted
0 people like this.
Reply 32 - Posted by:
MickTurn 2/5/2023 10:09:44 AM (No. 1395519)
OOOOhhhhhhhhhh...a fighter jet vs. a Balloon, I'll bet that was one hell of a dogfight!
0 people like this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Imright"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)