How could the US shoot the spy balloon down?
Discussion
Thought I'd ask the question in Boats, Planes and Trains in the hope of getting an informed response.
The official line is they won't shoot it down because of the damage it might do when it falls, not to mention the risks of using live ordnance over populated areas. Even an expended shell could kill someone when it reaches the ground, and fighters shoot what, 30 rounds per second?
But say they did decide to down it, what would they use? The balloon is said to be at least 60,000 feet up, I saw some reports of up to 80,000 feet.
That's very high. How much maneuverability does a modern jet fighter really have at that altitude? Isn't it getting close to coffin corner for most of them? Hitting a target with guns would be a challenge in that case?
A heat-seeking missile would have nothing to fix on, would the balloon show up as much of a target to a radar aimed missile? If the envelope is metal coated I guess it could.
I also guessing that high-altitude surface to air missile batteries are few and far between these days. They'd need to be mobile too, you can't just hope it drifts towards a base. Given the size of the US they could take a day or more to drive to the location.
Seems like a challenging threat, or am I mistaken?
The official line is they won't shoot it down because of the damage it might do when it falls, not to mention the risks of using live ordnance over populated areas. Even an expended shell could kill someone when it reaches the ground, and fighters shoot what, 30 rounds per second?
But say they did decide to down it, what would they use? The balloon is said to be at least 60,000 feet up, I saw some reports of up to 80,000 feet.
That's very high. How much maneuverability does a modern jet fighter really have at that altitude? Isn't it getting close to coffin corner for most of them? Hitting a target with guns would be a challenge in that case?
A heat-seeking missile would have nothing to fix on, would the balloon show up as much of a target to a radar aimed missile? If the envelope is metal coated I guess it could.
I also guessing that high-altitude surface to air missile batteries are few and far between these days. They'd need to be mobile too, you can't just hope it drifts towards a base. Given the size of the US they could take a day or more to drive to the location.
Seems like a challenging threat, or am I mistaken?
Just a tweak to the "nothing hot for a Sidewinder to lock onto" - my guess would be that the payload that the balloon is carrying will create/reflect enough heat for an AIM-9X to lock onto and the warhead explosion would be large enough to cause catastrophic damage to a balloon as shown in the shoot down video on the BBC.
It's Instagram, but appears the missile hit the sensors/solar bit.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoQu6v4q6FF/?igshid...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoQu6v4q6FF/?igshid...
pocketspring said:
That's the Yanks for you. What a waste of $400,000 and that's just the missile cost. They could have fired some 30mm rounds into it. Now they're wondering why there's nothing left of it to study. 
The payload was the size of 2-3 US school busses. Assuming they pierce the balloon, that thing is then falling 60, 000 ft onto whatever’s below. Even if what’s below is nothing but water, are you imagining a gentle swan glide to a calm stop?fiesta_STage3 said:
pocketspring said:
That's the Yanks for you. What a waste of $400,000 and that's just the missile cost. They could have fired some 30mm rounds into it. Now they're wondering why there's nothing left of it to study.
The payload was the size of 2-3 US school busses. Assuming they pierce the balloon, that thing is then falling 60, 000 ft onto whatever’s below. Even if what’s below is nothing but water, are you imagining a gentle swan glide to a calm stop?As well as wondering what part was hot enough to attract a heat-seeking missile, and wondering why they didn't use radar-guided instead (or guns as mentioned), I was wondering how the Chinese planned to get the data back. If it was transmitted then there would be transmissions to intercept - if it was stored then they'd have to recover the capsule - which could have ended up anywhere.
The gubbins underneath may have been the size of 2-3 buses, but I doubt the same weight.
The gubbins underneath may have been the size of 2-3 buses, but I doubt the same weight.
Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 5th February 10:01
fiesta_STage3 said:
pocketspring said:
That's the Yanks for you. What a waste of $400,000 and that's just the missile cost. They could have fired some 30mm rounds into it. Now they're wondering why there's nothing left of it to study.
The payload was the size of 2-3 US school busses. Assuming they pierce the balloon, that thing is then falling 60, 000 ft onto whatever’s below. Even if what’s below is nothing but water, are you imagining a gentle swan glide to a calm stop?Then catch it in a net strung between two warships.
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