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Are heat seeking missiles able to target a balloon via laser designating the target?
by jjtheblunt 4y ago
Are heat seeking missiles able to target a balloon via laser designating the target?
- catketch 4y agoNo laser designation needed. Aim-9x have full infrared and UV imagers in the seeker head. A white balloon in the sun floating in cold air at 60,000 feet might as well be a lighthouse
- foxyv 4y agoNope, but they can lock after launch using data from the jet's radar or helmet cued targeting. Pretty much an "It's over there somewhere. Kill anything you can see in that location/velocity." Then the sidewinder points it's sensor where the jet tells it to and uses UV/IR to find it. The 9x is to the original sidewinder what your smart phone is to an abacus. Shooting down balloons with it is pretty wild. Even if they don't have the proxy fuses or warheads.
- jjtheblunt 4y agoactually, are they using warheads, or just flying through the balloon ?
- foxyv 4y agoOn the big one over the Atlantic they didn't use a warhead. The others I'm not so sure.