I still don't understand why/how a sidewinder was used as even the article states that it is a heat seeking missile. On a balloon. This seems very wrong and may indicate comms of some sort.
None of it makes any sense. For that matter, does a party balloon even show up on radar or other sensory tech? Can an F22 track one? Could the pilot not have done a visual fly by from some distance off?
It could have been an aluminum foil balloon, perhaps that would be enough to actually create a signature on radar I don't know. But all the same. It's bizarre.
It's a bad look for the biggest superpower in the world to go off half-cocked shooting literal party balloons out of the sky. Afraid much? What happens if there was an actual (minor) threat? Would they nuke it?
I still don't understand why/how a sidewinder was used as even the article states that it is a heat seeking missile. On a balloon. This seems very wrong and may indicate comms of some sort.
None of it makes any sense. For that matter, does a party balloon even show up on radar or other sensory tech? Can an F22 track one? Could the pilot not have done a visual fly by from some distance off?
It could have been an aluminum foil balloon, perhaps that would be enough to actually create a signature on radar I don't know. But all the same. It's bizarre.
It's a bad look for the biggest superpower in the world to go off half-cocked shooting literal party balloons out of the sky. Afraid much? What happens if there was an actual (minor) threat? Would they nuke it?