Mike HThe F16 that shot down the Chinese balloon used a $400k Sidewinder missle. The F16 also has a 20mm gatling gun that costs $3k per one second burst. WTF
Condorito@MHartwell This is going to sound weird, but balloons are sometimes really hard to shoot down with just rounds. It was a lesson that was learned in WW1, relearned in WW2, and I guess today. The second reason for using a missile was to ensure that once it was shot down the debris field remained inside of the international boundary line, allowing American crews to collect all of the pieces.
@Condorito It does sound weird. All that I think is the pilots can't hit a target. PS: the 20mm gatling gun is capable of 5k rounds/minute around 10x the firing rate of WW1 and WW2 combat aircraft. So even if the modern combat jet fired continuously for one minute it would cost taxpayers $180k about half the cost of a Sidewinder.
@MHartwell the balloon was 200ft tall and carried a payload the size of a regional jet, according to Newsweek. The debris field covered over a square mile. Ensuring that no chances were taken was the right call.
@Condorito Shooting the balloon was taking a chance. Leaving the Balloon alone was the least risk.
@MHartwell here is a good video explaining some of the whys of that.
Let's talk about the balloon coming down....
@Condorito I watched the video. I agree politicians acted like politicians. AND politicians neglected to inform We the People that these balloons happen a lot. Plus if the DoD wants to reverse engineer the technology why not shoot it down over Alaska.
@Condorito So why not shoot it down over the northern Pacific.