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The big question is why China would send a balloon. My best guess is it carried electronic warfare sensors to try and collect specific information about US rada

The big question is why China would send a balloon. My best guess is it carried electronic warfare sensors to try and collect specific information about US radar and missile capabilities. They may have in fact wanted us to shoot it down, ideally first painting it with advanced radar (both air and ground based) and then firing an advanced missile at it. Data could be streamed out until the moment of impact and used to create better ways to jam or avoid US missiles. Sending it over sensitive sites may have been an attempt to force the US to take such action. I’ve heard rumors that it was shot down by an AIM 9X, which is IR guided, a good choice as its seeker doesn’t use radar and thereby expose the terminal radar guidance information. I’m going to go way out on a limb here and theorize the delay was due to brand new upgrades required to the AIM 9X software to be able to lock on to and hit a balloon, which they probably were not originally capable of.

pas 4y ago
... why didn't they simply declared it a shooting range target? thousands of volunteers would have tried to shoot it down with bullets and various DIY things! it would have been endless streaming content! oh, well, maybe the next one. :(
- junon 4y ago
  They explicitly asked the public not to do this. It was something like 60k feet in the air. People shooting up would have a laughably low chance of hitting it, plus create a rain of bullets somewhere else far away.
- mint2 4y ago
  Randomly Firing thousands of round at a target about ten miles up at an angle making the trajectories of misses to be something like 30 mi arcs sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? Does a ground fired bullet even go that high? They’ll obviously know their bullets are landing in safe areas right and no Minneapolis or wherever? Statistically unlikely to hit someone, but not surprising if it happened.
  - factsarelolz 4y ago
    [dead]
Krssst 4y ago
Could just using aircraft guns be easier? I am probably completely wrong, just curious.
- torpfactory 4y ago
  There was a case in the 90s I think of a Canadian weather balloon that they tried to shoot down with (fighter plane) guns and had a pretty tough time of it. Guns at that altitude too could be an issue as you lose control authority in thin air and the gun destabilizes flight controls even more.
- _zzaw 4y ago
  One reason I heard is that guns wouldn't have been that effective on a balloon the size of a football field; mere pinpricks, basically. The balloon would leak, but not nearly fast enough to bring it down in a reasonable amount of time. Unless, of course, they unloaded thousands of rounds into it, which is probably more dangerous and less practical than taking it out of the sky with a missile.
- namrog84 4y ago
  Among other reasons many fighter aircraft have max altitude of 50k to 55k and starts requiring more specialized equipment. And the balloon was at 60k feet. So perhaps they don't want to reveal which aircraft have capabilites beyond their advertised or something like that?
- roncesvalles 4y ago
  The balloon was at a very high altitude (66,000ft). The F-22 launched its missile at 58,000 feet, probably right at the edge of its loaded service ceiling, and the missile travelled rest of the way up. Given the height, I don't think it would've been easy to shoot it down with a cannon.
kzrdude 4y ago
I'm not sure it's worth making such advanced guesses about the intentions until it's proven that it could even steer itself and navigate with any accuracy at all.
- anonu 4y ago
  Your comment is the equivalent of "sit down and shut up" which is contrary to the whole point of having this forum or any sort of intellectual discussion on any topic on HN.
misja111 4y ago
Since nobody has answered your question: I assume that China simply sent a balloon to spy on the US. Why a balloon? Because it's much closer to earth than a satellite and can carry a heavier payload. And why they were not worried if it would be detected? Well, according to the Pentagon, China has sent several balloons over the US in recent years and nobody made a fuss about it until now.
innagadadavida 4y ago
What about using high powered lasers? There weee a lot of research into this by the military.

pas 4y ago

... why didn't they simply declared it a shooting range target? thousands of volunteers would have tried to shoot it down with bullets and various DIY things! it would have been endless streaming content! oh, well, maybe the next one. :(

junon 4y ago
They explicitly asked the public not to do this. It was something like 60k feet in the air. People shooting up would have a laughably low chance of hitting it, plus create a rain of bullets somewhere else far away.
mint2 4y ago
Randomly Firing thousands of round at a target about ten miles up at an angle making the trajectories of misses to be something like 30 mi arcs sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? Does a ground fired bullet even go that high? They’ll obviously know their bullets are landing in safe areas right and no Minneapolis or wherever? Statistically unlikely to hit someone, but not surprising if it happened.
- factsarelolz 4y ago
  [dead]

Krssst 4y ago

Could just using aircraft guns be easier? I am probably completely wrong, just curious.

torpfactory 4y ago
There was a case in the 90s I think of a Canadian weather balloon that they tried to shoot down with (fighter plane) guns and had a pretty tough time of it. Guns at that altitude too could be an issue as you lose control authority in thin air and the gun destabilizes flight controls even more.
_zzaw 4y ago
One reason I heard is that guns wouldn't have been that effective on a balloon the size of a football field; mere pinpricks, basically. The balloon would leak, but not nearly fast enough to bring it down in a reasonable amount of time. Unless, of course, they unloaded thousands of rounds into it, which is probably more dangerous and less practical than taking it out of the sky with a missile.
namrog84 4y ago
Among other reasons many fighter aircraft have max altitude of 50k to 55k and starts requiring more specialized equipment. And the balloon was at 60k feet. So perhaps they don't want to reveal which aircraft have capabilites beyond their advertised or something like that?
roncesvalles 4y ago
The balloon was at a very high altitude (66,000ft). The F-22 launched its missile at 58,000 feet, probably right at the edge of its loaded service ceiling, and the missile travelled rest of the way up. Given the height, I don't think it would've been easy to shoot it down with a cannon.

kzrdude 4y ago

I'm not sure it's worth making such advanced guesses about the intentions until it's proven that it could even steer itself and navigate with any accuracy at all.

anonu 4y ago
Your comment is the equivalent of "sit down and shut up" which is contrary to the whole point of having this forum or any sort of intellectual discussion on any topic on HN.

misja111 4y ago

Since nobody has answered your question: I assume that China simply sent a balloon to spy on the US. Why a balloon? Because it's much closer to earth than a satellite and can carry a heavier payload. And why they were not worried if it would be detected? Well, according to the Pentagon, China has sent several balloons over the US in recent years and nobody made a fuss about it until now.

innagadadavida 4y ago

What about using high powered lasers? There weee a lot of research into this by the military.