> Jet fighters trying to bring the balloon down fired more than 1,000 rounds into it Thursday, but it remained aloft. The air force hopes the now-leaking balloon will eventually come down.
Maybe there are some mundane reasons like that help justify it, but a lot of this seems like a bit of a show. I get the F-22 has a high ceiling for operations, but surely you could've shot a missile from a F-16 and accomplished the same thing.
Edit: As proof countries have downed high altitude balloons without F-22s and sidewinders in recent history.
Not guaranteed at all? The ceiling of an F-16 is lower. It's really not guaranteed that that would've worked. These missiles have limited range, and gaining altitude is costliest. It's entirely possible that a Sidewinder would not have worked from an F-16, requiring the use of a longer range, more expensive missile, and even that might not have worked as a balloon is a strange target and they picked this specific weapon system and platform because they believed it to have a high chance of success.
Why wouldn't you use your weapon system that has the highest probability of working on the first shot? The entire world was watching.
And most of it is amazed how much sensation is made of this (:
Brazen invasion, I'll wonder if they (US or China) will release honest details, but I cannot imagine much real purpose there and for now only assume incapability/incompetence.
I mean I'm not trying to say what effect it had, but high altitude balloons have been downed by multiple countries without F-22s firing sidewinders. I think the choice of F-22 was deliberate because of the visibility. To send a signal.
https://apnews.com/article/268893fddde785d029d5a51b136951eb
> Jet fighters trying to bring the balloon down fired more than 1,000 rounds into it Thursday, but it remained aloft. The air force hopes the now-leaking balloon will eventually come down.