This could be the location of the crashed unidentified flying object, although there don’t appear to be any planes circling now.
Flight restrictions in place:
I wonder if they could collapse a balloon with the wake of a jet passing over at 100 ft?
That might be hazardous for the jet.
Took 18 years, but the Raptor has finally found its career/life calling.
How so?
When The Blues Brothers was being filmed, before the Illinois Nazi car drop could be filmed an air unworthiness certificate was issued, stating the Pinto would drop more or less like a brick rather than glide too far.
I imagine that given that the object is near stationary, but the jet would be at hundreds of miles per hour, and the jet is aiming to blow by within just 100 feet of the balloon, it would be very easy to accidentally collide with it.
If that were true then air shows would not exist. they’re doing head on passes at the width of a runway. balloons are relatively stationary in comparison and their altitude is easily marked by spotter aircraft. Anything on a plane’s altitude is lined up on on the horizon. It would be easy to coordinate. the question is whether or not it’s effective and that’s something that can be tested ahead of time with a weather balloon tethered to the ground. Missiles aren’t cheap and wasting them on a balloon is expensive.
It’s just a thought thrown out there. I didn’t think balloons were going to become a “thing” but it looks like china has invested some effort into flying them over different countries.
The wake of a jet like that is hazardous out beyond 100 feet, the plane wouldn’t have to pass that close.
And what @Magiver said.
you are aware that missiles have a shelf-life … so using it to neutralize a threat isn’t exactly “wastage” for something that might otherwise have to be rebuilt at high cost.
here is an in depth 34 page report from the US Army Missile Command on the topic of shelf-life of missiles, that should get you into the ballpark:
The military probably also has a standard operating procedure of firing off X numbers of missiles per year, just to keep in practice. If they didn’t have these things to shoot at, they might even have to launch their own balloons to serve as targets.
It’s sort of like how the fighter-jet flybys at sporting events don’t actually cost the military anything, because the planes and pilots have to go up every so often anyway to maintain their certifications. If they weren’t flying over some stadium, they’d just be flying over a cornfield or something instead.
How many junk cars and old weather balloons do you think North Korea has in their inventory? They could keep our F-22s busy for decades.
Practice, practice, practice.
Chronos makes a good point, the guys are paid and planes flown whatever is going on.
The make a training version of the sidewinder for about half the price. It’s likely that functional versions are maintained by replacing parts with a shelf life.
This isn’t a hill I want to die on but just a thought. Using an explosive device is likely to damage the electronics of the balloon payload so anything they can do to keep it intact would help determine the nature of the device.
If they use a missile that tracks a laser spotter then they might be able to shoot an inert missile into the balloon. I’m sure the powers that be are thinking of new ways to deal with it going forward.
same is true for trucks … when I was in the army, every motor vehicle had to be driven for x miles per month - for the same reasons you mention.
this was mostly programmed into daily events, but ever so often they had to take out truck 1234 and drive it around senselessly for half an hour or so …
I’d not be surprised if the “protocols” for those kinds of events are being re-assessed and re-written as we speak … heck, I could also see some sort of modified slasher-sidewinder that rips a good sized hole front and aft w/out a bang.
donno why I keep visualizing a wooden sidewinder … LOL
A cylindrical unidentified flying object spotted over the U.K. in 2009:
Another cylindrical unidentified flying object spotted over North Carolina in 2019:
This mysterious object in 2012 turned out to be a Google balloon:
News of more unidentified flying objects being spotted over North America:
The balloon from 2009 in Somerset was a solar balloon, just a black plastic bag full of air which is heated by absorbing sunlight which turns it into a ‘warm air’ balloon. So long as the air inside (plus the weight of the balloon itself) is less dense than the air outside, the balloon will rise.
I suspect many of the other cylindrical balloon sightings were solar balloons as well. Perhaps the second 2023 balloon in Alaska was one, too.
They’re gonna shoot down Santa again, aren’t they?