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Feb 2 โ€ข 31 tweets โ€ข 15 min read
Let me understand this really well, ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ #NORAD QRA fighters didn't shoot down the ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ Chinese spy balloon in American, then Canadian, then American airspace? ๐Ÿ˜‚

YOU HAD ONE JOB.

๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ
They flew right through the #ADIZ that the media get their bloomers in a bunch about when the Russians fly antiques through, and VIOLATED American and Canadian airspace, which the Russians never do, and the Chinese continue to do; did I get that right? What a bunch of bullsh!t.
I suspect the #USAF are flying their own spy drones over China on the regular, without the public's knowledge, in full view of the Chinese military, and they're terrified the Chinese will start shooting them out of the sky if they shoot down the balloon.
If true, explaining that to the American public would expose one or more Top Secret programs, and expose that the United States doesn't care about international rules based order, if they're violating Chinese sovereign airspace regularly.
Yes. The timeline makes no sense, I presume we're being lied to again because none of it makes any sense. The RCAF should have shot it down and mounted in the 14 Wing Officers Mess as a prize.

To be absolutely clear, the United States and Canadian governments are letting Chinese reconnaissance balloons fly into our sovereign airspace regularly, and are not telling us about them, or shooting them down. We're being lied to by omission regularly.
This tracks very well with the track of #HUSK99 refuelling what I suspect were CF-188 Hornets over the Rockies from #4WingColdLake.

@AnitaAnandMP should be talking to the Canadian public about this gross violation of Canadian sovereignty, right now.

Would anyone like to ask @AnitaAnandMP to explain to Canadians why we had a foreign military spy balloon flying over Canada, a clear violation of our sovereignty, at the end of January, and the @RCAFOperations / @NORADCommand didn't shoot it down? What exactly is going on?
Credit to Ivan DeLisle who noticed that #RCAF #9WingComox CP-140 Aurora 140104 was tasked to get some visuals on the balloon, and @AnitaAnandMP can release those pictures to the public, right now.

I'm almost certain that #RCAF CF-188 Hornets from #4WingColdLake were tasked with intercepting and observing the hostile foreign reconnaissance aircraft over Canada, over British Columbia, and did not shoot it down.

Why did they not shoot down the hostile aircraft @AnitaAnandMP?
How can I be so sure the Hornets were over the Rockies when the #RCAF has elected to hide the operations of the CF-188 Hornet fleet from the people who paid for it by not using a publicly trackable transponder?

Because their tanker is a dead give-away.
Better still, it gives us a timeline on when #NORAD was already aware of the balloon without asking them. We can't really trust anything the DoD says, so it's much more reliable to follow their actions than their words.
On 2022-01-29 #RCAF CC-150 Polaris 15005 deployed from #8WingTrenton to #4WingColdLake using call sign #HUSK05.

#ADSBexchange #C2B37D
On 2022-01-31 #RCAF CC-150 Polaris 15005 supported CF-188 Hornets from #4WingColdLake, using call sign #HUSK99, a #NORAD operational call sign; not a domestic operation or an exercise.

This was to intercept the foreign hostile aircraft crossing BC.

#ADSBexchange #C2B37D
Flight data proved the Gov't of Canada have known since at least 2023-01-29 and this is the best they could do to placate the public.

Shame on @AnitaAnandMP's office for not being forthright with the Canadian public.

canada.ca/en/department-โ€ฆ
๐Ÿ˜Ž

The Canadian gov't knew about the approaching hostile foreign reconnaissance aircraft since at least January 29, and had time to redeploy a tanker to #CFBColdLake; I have a hard time believing they couldn't find a suitable weapon or location to shoot the balloon down in 5 days ๐Ÿค”
Globe and Mail coverage, now updated. ๐Ÿ˜Ž

theglobeandmail.com/politics/articโ€ฆ
...more Globe and Mail coverage

theglobeandmail.com/world/us-politโ€ฆ
The balloon whisperer ๐ŸŽˆ

Coverage by The War Zone:

thedrive.com/the-war-zone/cโ€ฆ
What's NORAD's job again?
It wasn't what I thought it was, clearly.

Syndicated story by The Canadian Press

ottawa.citynews.ca/national-news/โ€ฆ
"...Steffan Watkins, said Canada appeared to have used its air force to intercept the balloon in late January."

breitbart.com/asia/2023/02/0โ€ฆ
h/t @HamWa07 for noticing the Canadian NOTAM

notam.ca/?point=CYXE%7Cโ€ฆ

Isn't that a warning for an untethered balloon at 20,000-45,000ft over the prairies?
Is this another Chinese balloon, that low?
That's a big boy!

This is really great, it helps the media get ahead of where the ballon is going and come up with story ideas. Like, is it headed over any national security related sites? What planes are loitering near this track? So many possibilities!

๐Ÿฟ

๐Ÿฟ

๐Ÿ”ฅ

That's a wrap

โ€ข โ€ข โ€ข

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More from @steffanwatkins

Steffan Watkins Profile picture
Feb 1
"The operation involved (...) supporting and operating four F-35s, three CF-18s, four KC-135s, one CC-150, one E-3, and one CH-149."

Okay, let's add them up. ๐Ÿงต
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ #USAF E-3 Sentry 83-0009 #AE11F2 #CACHE50

Flights identified using #ADSBexchange
2023-01-18
2023-01-19

dvidshub.net/image/7608860/โ€ฆ
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ #RCAF CC-149 Cormorant 149902 #C2B107 deployed from #14WingGreenwood on 2023-01-11, headed to to Iqaluit, in preparation for #NORAD Operation #NobleDefender.

The operation was from the 15th to the 31st, true, but preparations started before that.
Read 4 tweets
Steffan Watkins Profile picture
Jan 13
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Here's the distribution of the Canadian-registered Top Aces Alpha Jet fleet. I took the superset of everything registered to them, worked back to 2022-09-01, identified everything that's flown in that time, and flagged those that haven't flown in a month+. Image
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CFB Cold Lake (4)
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CFB Bagotville (5)
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Halifax (1)
๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Fliegerhorst Nordholz (2)
(+5 haven't flown in over a month)

The idea is, if they haven't flown in over a month, they may be going through some maintenance; or not, I can't tell. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ
What's this good for? If you follow Top Aces fighters, you follow where Canadian Forces training is being performed. ๐Ÿฟ
Read 5 tweets
Steffan Watkins Profile picture
Jan 13
While this article is 5 years old, and likely out of date regarding the operations that are being carried out from Keflavik ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ, it makes it clear to me that the "rotational" deployments of large numbers of #USNavy P-8A Poseidon and #RCAF CP-140 Aurora aircraft are a #NATO mission
It's also clear that #RCAF and #USNavy operations out of NAS Keflavik ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ and NAS Sigonella ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น are related, it's basically the same mission, the only difference is #Keflavik surges when the Russian Navy is brining a submarine through the GIUK gap, making a very obvious tell for us
In 2022 the #RCAF deployed to #Keflavik and different bases in the UK several times for patrols of the GIUK gap, with different CP-140 Aurora Block IV aircraft which seem quite popular.

However, the Gov't of Canada won't talk about it, nor will #NATO Public Affairs.
Read 4 tweets
Steffan Watkins Profile picture
Jan 12
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Where is the #RCAF today?
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ #RCAF CC-177 Globemaster III (4/5, 80% โœ…)

โ€ฃ 177701 just got back from Haiti
โ€ฃ 177702 is somewhere on the other side of the planet
โ€ฃ 177703 is still in San Antonio ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ (since August ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿ”ง)
โ€ฃ 177705 arrived in Bagotville yesterday

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=c2b3ff,cโ€ฆ
#8WingTrenton #429Sqn Image
Whoops. Image
Read 15 tweets
Steffan Watkins Profile picture
Dec 8, 2022
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆโš”๏ธ Can we figure out which aircraft brought the #CANSOFCOM members back from Niger who were deployed on #OpNABERIUS ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฌ?
If the person in charge was trying to be nice they would have sent something comfortable, like a CC-150 Polaris... did they? Let's look.

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=c2b355,cโ€ฆ
I checked back to 2022-11-01, and of course not; these are the elite Canadian ninjas of CANSOFCOM, they don't need to be comfortable.

Let's see if they stuffed them on the back of a CC-177 Globemaster III with their gear.

globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=c2b3ff,cโ€ฆ
Read 7 tweets
Steffan Watkins Profile picture
Dec 8, 2022
๐Ÿ–• I was using that feature. ๐Ÿคฌ
If you used the Moments I made, tracking entire categories of planes, you better bookmark them or save the links elsewhere before they're gone. I used these all the time. Elon continues to work hard to remove useful features and drive content creators away from Twitter.
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

twitter.com/i/events/13121โ€ฆ
Read 8 tweets

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