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It’s not the US that shot it down - it was NORAD.

by sebastien_b 4y ago

pcbro141 4y ago
It was a US F-22. The US and NORAD are not mutually exclusive.
rkagerer 4y ago
Trudeau and Biden talked before deciding to shoot it down. Both Canadian and US aircraft were present.
1over137 4y ago
Says a lot about the RCAF though: they can't even defend their territory properly.
- simlevesque 4y ago
  No, that's not how it works, as it is NORAD.
- poly_morphis 4y ago
  Did you even read the article? > The Pentagon said the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected the object over Alaska late Friday evening. U.S. fighter jets from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, monitored the object as it crossed over into Canadian airspace, where Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joined the formation.
  - 1over137 4y ago
    I did read the article, yes. It was the US plane that did the actual take down. Of course RCAF planes joined, how much more pathetic would it have been if only foreign planes did the work. Did Canadian planes join in the other day when the Alaska one was shot down? Of course not, because the USAF is able to do it on their own, unlike the RCAF, which was my original point.
    - tempestn 4y ago
      Because that's how it's supposed to work. The US and Canada work together to defend their combined airspace. They're literally under the same chain of command, hence "NORAD". It would be rather inefficient to set that up and then have both countries redundantly responding everywhere.
      - 1over137 4y ago
        I'm familiar with NORAD. Take a look at Canadian media, you'll see they are talking about the fact RCAF could not do it on their own.
        simlevesque 4y ago
        Which media ?
        1over137 4y ago
        Ex, for this one: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/norad-shoots-down-unidentified-object-over-yukon-under-pm-trudeau-s-orders-1.6270114 https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/norad-shoots-down-unidentified... for the last one: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/spy-balloon-canada-norad-questions-1.6742695 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/spy-balloon-canada-norad-ques...
        tempestn 4y ago
        From the second article you linked: > Should Canada have acted when it flew into Canadian airspace? > The short answer, according to military experts, is no. > "To say that, oh, Canada should have shot this balloon down on its own — that's just silly," said University of Calgary history professor and military historian David Bercuson. > "That just completely ignores the fact that NORAD exists that we're part of it and have been part of it for almost 80 years now." And yes, it also says this: > The operating altitude of Canada's CF-18 Hornet fighter jets is 50,000 feet (15,000 metres), while Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the balloon had been flying at about 60,000 feet (18,000 metres) — potentially out of range for those jets. However that ignores the fact that the F22 that shot down the balloon did so from 40,000 feet. Using a similar missile, a CF-18 certainly could have done the same.

It’s not the US that shot it down - it was NORAD.

pcbro141 4y ago

It was a US F-22. The US and NORAD are not mutually exclusive.

rkagerer 4y ago

Trudeau and Biden talked before deciding to shoot it down. Both Canadian and US aircraft were present.

1over137 4y ago

Says a lot about the RCAF though: they can't even defend their territory properly.

simlevesque 4y ago
No, that's not how it works, as it is NORAD.
poly_morphis 4y ago
Did you even read the article? > The Pentagon said the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected the object over Alaska late Friday evening. U.S. fighter jets from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, monitored the object as it crossed over into Canadian airspace, where Canadian CF-18 and CP-140 aircraft joined the formation.
- 1over137 4y ago
  I did read the article, yes. It was the US plane that did the actual take down. Of course RCAF planes joined, how much more pathetic would it have been if only foreign planes did the work. Did Canadian planes join in the other day when the Alaska one was shot down? Of course not, because the USAF is able to do it on their own, unlike the RCAF, which was my original point.
  - tempestn 4y ago
    Because that's how it's supposed to work. The US and Canada work together to defend their combined airspace. They're literally under the same chain of command, hence "NORAD". It would be rather inefficient to set that up and then have both countries redundantly responding everywhere.
    - 1over137 4y ago
      I'm familiar with NORAD. Take a look at Canadian media, you'll see they are talking about the fact RCAF could not do it on their own.
      - simlevesque 4y ago
        Which media ?
        1over137 4y ago
        Ex, for this one: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/norad-shoots-down-unidentified-object-over-yukon-under-pm-trudeau-s-orders-1.6270114 https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/norad-shoots-down-unidentified... for the last one: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/spy-balloon-canada-norad-questions-1.6742695 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/spy-balloon-canada-norad-ques...
        tempestn 4y ago
        From the second article you linked: > Should Canada have acted when it flew into Canadian airspace? > The short answer, according to military experts, is no. > "To say that, oh, Canada should have shot this balloon down on its own — that's just silly," said University of Calgary history professor and military historian David Bercuson. > "That just completely ignores the fact that NORAD exists that we're part of it and have been part of it for almost 80 years now." And yes, it also says this: > The operating altitude of Canada's CF-18 Hornet fighter jets is 50,000 feet (15,000 metres), while Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the balloon had been flying at about 60,000 feet (18,000 metres) — potentially out of range for those jets. However that ignores the fact that the F22 that shot down the balloon did so from 40,000 feet. Using a similar missile, a CF-18 certainly could have done the same.