Of course no one can know how a war with China over Taiwan would play out. But I would guess the response to the loss of a US carrier group to a conventional weapons attack would be something more like a powerful conventional attack on China's naval bases, the home ports of the air-sea forces that blew up the carrier and its escorts. Strikes like that would cripple the Chinese navy, and China does not have the power projection to retaliate with equivalent forces on the US west coast naval bases. God forbid, they'd find some other way to prosecute the war, or call it a day and wait to rebuild for another generation.

On the other hand, for the US to go nuclear after the loss of some of its navy during a war, losses which have already been extensively war-gamed by the USN, makes no sense on any level. Nuclear war using the Montana-based ICBMs would be the end of the world, or at least the end of China and the US as working countries. No Chinese leader or US president is going to go there, Taiwan or no Taiwan, I think.

Anything non military in American airspace has to have FAA clearance and Air Traffic Control clearance. That's true whether it is a commercial drone flying near an airport, a life flight or police helicopter, or a SPACEX launch of a rocket. So, if these other 3 objects are not Chinese spy balloons, what are they doing up thee without anybody officially knowing about them???

More and more curious....

"Re: John M [3], I highly doubt that 1) the Chinese don't already know where the US missile silos are for targeting;"

Oh I am quite sure they already knew where they were, but the more close up information you can get on location, the more precise your targeting will be....

"and 2) the Chinese are anticipating nuclear strategic exchanges over an invasion of Taiwan."

I would not be too sure about that. What would be the response to the Chinese taking out an American Aircraft carrier battle group with a high yield explosive???

But you forgot the big question: When will we fund and deploy an actual "Balloon Force", aka The United States Lighter-Than-Air Force? What will the uniforms look like? The shoulder patches and the command console logos? Which major defense contractors will get the juicy work of designing and funding weapons to wage balloon warfare in a way that no other nation can match?

Re: John M [3], I highly doubt that 1) the Chinese don't already know where the US missile silos are for targeting; and 2) the Chinese are anticipating nuclear strategic exchanges over an invasion of Taiwan.

Aliens or not, there is also still the authenticated military videos that were released of objects caught on film by the U.S. Navy, including the super fast flying tic tac, and what certainly looks like a classic saucer, that have yet to be explained.

What we may be seeing now is the preparation of the public in slow motion for an even greater disclosure by the American government of long held secrets about just what has been going on in our skies over America, and how little they know about them, and how little control they actually have of our airspace.

As for the large Chinese spy balloon, it could very well be a warning from China along the lines of: 1) We intend to take Taiwan by force within the next couple of years and 2) If you try to do anything about it, we can now target your ICBM's for pinpoint destruction as we have mapped them up close, so don't even try to intervene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkNlwpajNk