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Comment by TheRealPomax | Hacker News Reader

Heaven forbid someone flies outdated spy technology over another superpower. checks decade oh wait no I'm thinking of the US flying U-2's. Carry on.

edit: wow, lots of folks apparently unfamiliar with the 1960's U-2 incident eh? Time to brush up on military aviation history.

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You are allowed to spy on other countries only as long as you are really good at it. Sending a random weather balloon to fly over another country definitely doesn't cut it.

The real crime isn't spying but getting caught.

By that logic random murders are also not crimes until you get caught.

You're going to actually have to explain what logic you think you're talking about here in order for that claim to stick. Because no, not even remotely.

Well spying is a crime in most countries so saying that it is not a crime until it's detected is just wrong. My point was that crimes are still crimes even if they are not detected.

Spying on a country, in that country, for another country, is absolutely a crime, not ambiguity there. And spying using satellites, many hundreds of miles above controlled airspace, is not a crime - it's not even considered spying. In between those two you get high altitude spying using surveillance aircraft or balloons. It really does fall in this weird "not a crime until detected" grey area.

I think you just passed the CIA entrance exam. Please report to langley at your earliest convenience.

Heck, it's not even a crime, it's just an airspace violation at best.

The U2 is an amazing piece of technology. The amount of times it's been gutted and retrofitted is crazy. 67 years and counting; sure don't make them like they use to. Even the global hawk can't match its capability 1:1.

> The U2 is an amazing piece of technology. The amount of times it's been gutted and retrofitted is crazy. 67 years and counting; sure don't make them like they use to. Even the global hawk can't match its capability 1:1.

If the U2 is amazing, which superlative is appropriate for the SR-71?

Unbelievable. Supernatural. Godlike.

But unfortunately not cost effective.

Leaky.

Just till it reaches altitude

I remember seeing that thing in a museum in Moscow back when I was a kid :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_U-2_incident

The Chinese and Russians are free to shoot down an SR-71 or U2 over their airspace. Problem is that's much easier said than done.

Shooting down a balloon over US airspace, or better yet, grabbing it, should be a no-brainer. It's our airspace. Why is this being discussed? Get that thing on that ground, keep it, and study it.

No one is free to shoot down an SR-71, because nothing you fire at an SR-71 will ever reach it. They're free to point at it, though.

Re-read my first sentence. They are absolutely free to.

No one's free to violate the laws of physics.

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