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It was shot down with Sidewinder missile like the others. Hitting balloon with cannon is hard when it is at 60,000 ft and fighter is at 50,000 ft. The second a
by ianburrell 4y ago
It was shot down with Sidewinder missile like the others.
Hitting balloon with cannon is hard when it is at 60,000 ft and fighter is at 50,000 ft. The second and third objects may not have been balloons. Hitting a car-sized object with gun would be hard even if it was at same altitude.
- WalterBright 4y agoA sidewinder is heat seeking. What heat is it latching on to? There's no jet engine on a balloon. Besides, what good is a gun if you can't hit a stationary car-sized object? (And the balloon was much bigger than that.)
- ianburrell 4y agoThe new AIM-9X missile has an imaging sensor which I’m guessing is more sensitive. It works on front of aircraft and missiles. Either it is seeing the reflected light or the object is warmer than space. The F-22 would be going close to Mach 1 while balloon/object is stationary. The balloon was higher altitude which is harder shot and out of range. Very different from dogfighting the gun is meant for. I don’t think any fighters have gun targeting system since the gun is really a backup.
- WalterBright 4y agoThat sounds like an expensive missile. An enemy could deplete our supply of them just by sending a phalanx of cheap balloons over.
- ianburrell 4y agoSidewinder costs $400k. US has 10,000 of them in stock. I have speculated if rockets could be used. Unguided might be hard to aim. Laser guided might not be any better. It would require different aircraft that might be able to get high enough.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]