In article , says...

Jeff Findley wrote:
Bull$hit! If it would have been any of those, it would have been
detected and intercepted and if it didn't leave US air space, it would
have been shot down.

Probably. Very Probably. Heck, Almost Certainly even. the US no
doubt have an exellect air defense system,

Here is the official DOD statement (as seen on Facebook):

"While there is nothing at this time that leads the Department of
Defense to believe this is a missile launch, the department and other US
government agencies with expertise in aviation and space continue to
look into the condensation trail (CONTRAIL) seen and reported off the
coast of southern California on Monday evening.

"All DoD entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches,
scheduled or inadvertent, during the time period in the area of the
reported contrail. NORAD and USNORTHCOM confirmed that it did not
monitor any foreign military missile launch off the California coast
yesterday and has determined that there was no threat to the US
homeland.

"In addition, the FAA ran radar replays from Monday afternoon of a large
area west of Los Angeles. Those replays did not reveal any fast-moving,
unidentified targets. The FAA also did not receive reports of any
unusual sightings from pilots who were flying in the area Monday
afternoon.

"If any new information comes to light in the coming days, we will
update the press and public.

"DoD statement attributed to Col. Dave Lapan, DoD spokesman."


And now for the "translated" version found here
(http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/arc...thing#comment-
10222 ):

I should render this statement in English:

DOD: "While there is nothing at this time that leads the Department of
Defense to believe this is a missile launch ?"

English: It wasn't a missile.

DOD: "? the department and other US government agencies with expertise
in aviation and space continue to look into the condensation trail
(CONTRAIL) seen and reported off the coast of southern California on
Monday evening."

English: But we will take this very, very seriously because we are
professionals. After work, however, over a beer, we might use the term
"nutjob that doesn't know a jet contrail from his ass on fire."

DOD: "All DoD entities with rocket and missile programs reported no
launches, scheduled or inadvertent, during the time period in the area
of the reported contrail."

English: Look, we didn't launch anything.

DOD: "NORAD and USNORTHCOM confirmed that it did not monitor any foreign
military missile launch off the California coast yesterday ?"

English: Nor did we see anyone else launch anything.

DOD: "and has determined that there was no threat to the US homeland."

English: Did we mention that we are taking this very, very seriously
because we are professionals? At least until we get to the bar?

DOD: "In addition, the FAA ran radar replays from Monday afternoon of a
large area west of Los Angeles. Those replays did not reveal any fast-
moving, unidentified targets."

English: Don't you think it is odd that the FAA radars only show
airplanes?

DOD: "The FAA also did not receive reports of any unusual sightings from
pilots who were flying in the area Monday afternoon."

English: Or that no one else, other than the helicopter crew, say
anything but airplanes?

DOD: "If any new information comes to light in the coming days, we will
update the press and public."

English: Time for that beer.

but I will remind folks about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust

I'm sure that the US has had its share of incidents with small single
engine aircraft wandering into secured air spaces, but this kid landed
near Red Square. A similar incident in the US would have a single
engine aircraft land on the Mall in Washington D.C.

Jeff
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