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Most US missiles can shoot above the operational height of their planes.

• JohnBooty 4y ago
  Sorry. I should have been clearer with that "it." The Pentagon said the F-22 was flying at 58K feet and the balloon was at 60-65,000 feet. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3288543/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/ https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/32... Of course, that could be a lie too!
  • khuey 4y ago
    There's not really any reason the Pentagon needed to state the F-22 was at 58k if that was actually new information (I haven't investigated the previously admitted service ceiling). They could have just as easily have claimed it was at 50k when it fired. EDIT: Wikipedia claims the service ceiling of the F-22 is 65k feet anyways.
    • JohnBooty 4y ago
      Check the Wikipedia edit history. Bunch of arguing over it. It was 50,000 feet. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lockheed_Martin_F...
    • leucineleprec0n 4y ago
      Yeah it’s not new, people have known.