Biden admin removing most surveillance balloons at southern border due to cost: sources

[Michelle]

EXCLUSIVE: The Biden administration is significantly reducing the number of aerostats being used to monitor the overwhelmed southern border, with multiple sources telling Fox News that it is due to a lack of funding -- with a majority already being taken out of service.

Last year there were 12 aerostats, nicknamed "Eyes in the Sky" by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), along the southern border. CBP sources tell Fox that only four remain now, all in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.

CBP’s Air and Marine Operations uses the aerostats for detection and monitoring along the southern border and coastal regions. The Department of Defense, which agreed to spend $52 million to continue operating aerostats through to the end of FY 2022, which ended in October, after the Department of Homeland Security cut funding for the program. 

Last year, the Biden administration added a balloon in Nogales, Arizona. A CBP spokesman told local media that the technology has been used along the border since 2013, that the blimp in question has a range of 3,000 feet above ground level and allows Border Patrol to "maintain visual awareness of border activity in the United States for longer periods of time.

cont...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/biden-admin-removing-most-surveillance-balloons-at-southern-border-due-to-cost-sources/ar-AA17gEqm

[Gromdor]

I'm going to laugh if they are cylinder shaped and about the size of a small car.

[the13bats]

I really would have thought bidens balloons would have been far cheaper than BOM s wall then again Mexico paid for the wall and was delighted to do so.

25 minutes ago, Gromdor said:

I'm going to laugh if they are cylinder shaped and about the size of a small car.

I would laugh harder if they looked like...

[pellinore]

58 minutes ago, Gromdor said:

I'm going to laugh if they are cylinder shaped and about the size of a small car.

A few years ago Heathrow Airport police halted flights because a drone was reported in their airspace. The more drones they sent up to look for it, the more sightings there were...

An inquiry found that they had cancelled million of pounds worth of flights looking for one of their own drones.

Edited February 14 by pellinore

[+and-then]

Meanwhile, the flow of billions to protect Ukraine is UNENDING.  Our country is experiencing a controlled demolition and all who support for the current administration - whoever is running it - are culpable, IMO.

[+Grim Reaper 6]

1 hour ago, the13bats said:

I really would have thought bidens balloons would have been far cheaper than BOM s wall then again Mexico paid for the wall and was delighted to do so.

I would laugh harder if they looked like...

That dam thing is dangerous, because wanted it filled with methane. So, that during his rallies if some section of the crowd isn't making enough noise, they fly the balloon over that section and release some of the gas. Since Methane is lighter than air they turn on huge fans, so it sinks and smells like a giant fart, Diaper Donny at his level best.

I am glad they took the Aerostat's down they are a danger to Civilian, Military and Border Patrol Aviation especially helicopters, it's too dam easily to lose a tail rotor if it accidentally hits the object or the tethers that hold them on the ground! Drones are a better choice, because they can follow the illegal's wherever they go, and it's much easier to find and catch them. The Aerostat's do not have this capability, they are really antiquated technology because of their fixed positions. 

AIRSHIP TETHER SEVERS CESSNA WING, KILLING THREE Airship tether severs Cessna wing, killing three - AOPA

 

 

[pellinore]

37 minutes ago, and-then said:

Meanwhile, the flow of billions to protect Ukraine is UNENDING.  Our country is experiencing a controlled demolition and all who support for the current administration - whoever is running it - are culpable, IMO.

Focusing on the price tag of aid instead of the value of what it buys ignores the fact that the war in Ukraine has become the equivalent of a proxy war with Russia, and a war that can be fought without any U.S. military casualties, that unites most of the world’s democracies behind a common cause, that deeply punishes Russia for its act of aggression and strengthens every aspect of deterrence. It ignores the fact that costs of such aid are low in grand strategic terms, and seem likely to be far lower than the cumulative cost of the fighting to save an Afghan government that never began to approach the Ukraine’s unity and national commitment to defend itself.

United States Aid to Ukraine: An Investment Whose Benefits Greatly Exceed its Cost (csis.org)

Edited February 14 by pellinore