"The balloon" shot down

[OVERKILL]

I know there are, but that's not the point.

The point is, Make all the noise you want to look good to your voters, but tone it down to real levels when dealing with the chinese as the US isn't exactly free from blame when it comes to spying and overflying other nations.

I mean, the Soviets certainly didn't let the US fly over them with impunity, every time the SR-71 was there, they were trying to shoot it down. Every. Single. Time. They just couldn't.

 

[OVERKILL]

Did the warhead explode? Was the “boom” a sonic boom? I would think a hole punched at Mach 2 alone would bring down the ballon without destroying the payload. Can you fire a AIM9X with the warhead in “safety”?

I saw dust etc on impact…not sure I saw an explosion

No, it didn't have an explosive payload, they didn't want to blow it up, just knock it down.

 

[leadcounsel]

Exactly.

I'm an old guy. Other nations would instantly shoot down anything in their airspace. Yet we let a balloon drift around for days. Apparently it's not the first time. I'll be brief, but it makes ZERO sense. I just do not understand this situation. And I'm a very informed smart tactical former military combat vet. I have no good explanation why we'd let a enemy intelligent balloon loiter for days... And the information we are given is simply implausible. The "risk of shooting it down," Please!! Am I stupid??

 

[leadcounsel]

Did the warhead explode? Was the “boom” a sonic boom? I would think a hole punched at Mach 2 alone would bring down the ballon without destroying the payload. Can you fire a AIM9X with the warhead in “safety”?

I saw dust etc on impact…not sure I saw an explosion

It was some type of proximity fuse firing shrapnel.

 

[M56959]

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