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> An F-22 fighter jet shot down the object using an A9X missile What a waste if $200k, shooting Chinese baloons. These shold be zapped using lasers.
by petre 4y ago
> An F-22 fighter jet shot down the object using an A9X missile
What a waste if $200k, shooting Chinese baloons. These shold be zapped using lasers.
- Scoundreller 4y agoLots of zaps needed. But I guess if you cut a big enough line (or circle) it’ll do the job.
- buildsjets 4y agoThe YAL-1 747 Airborne Laser had a megawatt class chemical oxygen-iodine laser. In an unclassified presentation I was at they claimed a hubcap-sized (30cm-ish?) spot diameter firing from Seattle to Wenatchee (~200 km) with the capability to melt thru an aluminum ICBM skin in just a few millisecond pulses. I think we could pop that balloon.
- horsawlarway 4y agoDon't most f-22s come with a 20mil cannon? Wonder we we're preferring the missiles to just plain old lead?
- durandal1 4y agoAt those altitudes the combination of a very high closing speed (air is thin) and the short range of the gun creates a real risk of flying into the target you're trying to hit.
- Eduard 4y agoThis sounds paradoxical to me. Using the same reasoning, a gun bullet should also be faster with higher altitude, hence have a longer range.
- Nimitz14 4y agoThe high speed is necessary so the plane doesn’t fall out of the sky. A bullet is going to have a different friction coefficient than a plane so is not as affected by the altitude.
- msandford 4y agoIt's not that the bullets won't fly a long ways. It's that the range where the gun is accurate is fairly small. Sure you could theoretically shoot it from 20 miles away as long as you're 15 miles above the target and can successfully plot the ballistic arc, windage, etc. But fighter jets aren't flying artillery pieces so their computers don't do that kind of targeting.
- davidmr 4y agoIt turns out that high altitude balloons don’t pop when you put small holes in them: https://apnews.com/article/268893fddde785d029d5a51b136951eb https://apnews.com/article/268893fddde785d029d5a51b136951eb
- hot_gril 4y agoIdk, but I'm guessing they treat it like target practice for the missiles.
- Zetobal 4y agoThere is always stock that has to be used up before they go bad and the pilots and machines need flying time no matter what. It's not as bad as it sounds and the rockets have their warheads removed.
- Phlarp 4y agoThe US defense industry will absolutely find a way to make the marginal cost of shooting the laser be $200k or more.
- lame-robot-hoax 4y agoOrdinance doesn’t last forever. Might as well use them if you’ve got them.