Iâve covered a lot of spy scandals, especially those involving China, but Iâve never seen anything like this balloon story. Thereâs something really visceral about this particular effort â and it could be just the beginning. [Outsider Club Header]
Feb 10, 2023 By Jason Simpkins for the Outsider Club Chinaâs Balloon Bomb: This Was Just a Test Run Over the past 16 years Iâve covered a lot of spy scandals â especially those involving China. [This one](, for example, in which computers at dozens of major American companies â including a major bank, government contractors, Apple, and Amazon â were compromised with secret microchips planted by the Chinese army. One time they stole Googleâs source code. Another time they scored oodles of government secrets including weapons technology. But Iâve never seen anything like this balloon story. Itâs just bonkers. And itâs hit people in a much different way than previous hacking scandals, which probably yielded more useful intelligence. Thereâs something really visceral about this particular effort. The audacity of it, the brazenness, and the fact that it seems to have been somewhat successful. After it was revealed that Chinese balloons had infiltrated U.S. air space on three previous instances during the Trump administration, it was further clarified that those violations werenât caught in real time. These incursions took place over Hawaii; Coronado, California; and Norfolk, Virginia, where our countryâs largest naval bases are located. And officials only learned about them after it was too late. Then, thereâs the fact the military was gun-shy about shooting down this latest balloon. Why? Defense officials say the balloon didnât pose a threat to the public and that the government âtook immediate steps to protect against the balloonâs collection of sensitive information, mitigating its intelligence value.â Whatever that means. This Pill Will âDefine the Next Decadeâ A new medical breakthrough smaller than the size of your pinkie is about to reshape human history. Because believe it or not, this tiny pill can eradicate every single sign and symptom of aging and disease... Which leaves you looking and feeling forever young. Donât believe it? [Check out this proof...]( Additionally, they were supposedly able to study the balloon and its equipment mid-flight. And honestly, as private citizens, we can only take them at their word. But still, these explanations sound pretty suspect. And they certainly donât alleviate the sense that we, collectively as a country, feel violated. We feel antagonized, disrespected, even attacked. It feels like China really does want war. Itâs another escalation in whatâs become a long-standing feud â another declaration that the international rules donât apply. And that declaration is further evidenced by the fact that itâs not just us. Chinaâs surveillance balloons have sailed over dozens of countries, from Europe to South Asia. The earliest publicly reported sighting was over the northern Japanese city of Sendai in June 2020. And in all of those journeys they collected huge volumes of data. That includes logistical data that can be used to enhance the accuracy of radar targeting systems, along with atmospheric data that can be used to develop hardware and software technology for missiles. Thereâs even footage from Chinaâs state-owned television network dating back to 2018 that shows a high-altitude balloon nearly identical to the one that traversed the United States dropping hypersonic weapons. [China Balloon Bomb] Iâve talked a lot about hypersonic missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) over the past year, so youâre probably familiar with them by now. But basically, they fly into low-earth orbit on a rocket that detaches, leaving a glide vehicle to coast back down onto a target via an unpredictable trajectory. The Car Elon Musk Didnât See Coming It may not look like much, but this car is about to bring down Elon Musk's entire empire. Not only does this vehicle charge itself, even as you drive it down the highway... But youâll never have to pay for electricity or fuel for your car ever again. [Learn more about the company behind Teslaâs demise hereâ¦]( Such vehicles are faster than more traditional missiles when theyâre in low orbit, but they also slow down when they hit the dense air of the atmosphere because they no longer have jets to power them. The three HGVs dropped by the balloon in the TV segment looked like they were testing that phenomenon in an effort to improve Chinaâs hypersonic warheads. This, the segment claimed, would give China an âunstoppable nuclear weapon.â So the spy balloon that made its way over this past week may just have been a dry run or a fact-finding mission for a balloon-mounted hypersonic weapon that could one day be used to attack us... Or the information these balloons gained could simply be used to get an even bigger edge over the United States in the realm of hypersonic weapons in general. Either way, itâs bad news. As I said, China is far ahead of the United States in the hypersonic weapons race. And weâre only now just starting to catch up, with a wave of funding at Congressâ direction. Some $4.7 billion was directed into more than 70 hypersonic military programs in FY23, up from $3.8 billion in FY22. I even found a company thatâs poised to profit from that spending spree, too. [You can find out more about that here](. Itâs definitely worth learning about, because the threat China poses is greater than ever. So donât waste any time. Fight on, [Jason Simpkins Signature] Jason Simpkins [follow basic]([@OCSimpkins on Twitter]( Jason Simpkins is Assistant Managing Editor of the Outsider Club and Investment Director of Wall Street's Proving Ground, a financial advisory focused on security companies and defense contractors. For more on Jason, check out his editor's [page](. *Follow Outsider Club on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. Follow the Outsiders [Twitter]( | [Facebook]( | [LinkedIn]( | [YouTube]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. You can manage your subscription and get our privacy policy [here](. Outsider Club, Copyright © Outsider Club LLC, 3 E Read Street Baltimore, MD 21202. Please note: It is not our intention to send email to anyone who doesn't want it. If you're not sure why you're getting this e-letter, or no longer wish to receive it, get more info [here]( including our privacy policy and information on how to manage your subscription. 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