Sounds like we've moved to a zero-tolerance policy, and we're just gonna shoot down anything foreign we detect in our airspace, now. Fine by me. At least until it's one of my friends' ionospheric probing balloons.
Dude something at commercial altitude that doesn't respond to ground control? That shit would have gotten shot down at any point between 2001 and now. Guaranteed - there was one, and only one, balloon in the sky at that moment. Otherwise we wouldn't have said shit.
Good point. Somehow I glossed over the altitude. Maybe it was malfunctioning? Needed at least another 10k feet of height to have half a chance at making it to Canada. What a fun, sexy time in the stratosphere this week.
Lol I'm in NAS Whidbey's pattern. Shit be poppin'.