Experts praised the “victory” of the US Air Force over the Chinese balloon

The battle of the US Air Force with the Chinese balloon ended in the complete and final victory of the great aviation power. The ball is down. True, in a few days of flight, he managed to prove that the airspace over the territory of the United States is a passage yard for such air objects.

According to some reports, the balloon appeared over Alaska on January 27, over Canada on January 30, and then drifted over the United States for about five days.

At the final stage of the air operation to destroy the high-altitude balloon, a heavy fighter of the 5th generation F-22 was involved. A helium-filled balloon is struck over the Atlantic Ocean by a short-range AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile.

The missile was developed in the early 50s and is designed to fight enemy aircraft. The cost of one missile is $15,000. The cost of one hour of F-22 flight is $60,000.

According to the Pentagon, the F-22 flew at an altitude of 17.7 km at the time of the rocket launch, the balloon – at an altitude of 18.3 to 19.8 km. It is characteristic that light fighters of the 5th generation F-35 did not cope with the probe.

Considering that several aviation units, air and missile defense troops, as well as a flotilla of ships were involved in the operation “Shoot down the Chinese observer”, the total costs of the Pentagon for the operation could amount to several tens of millions of dollars.

But the reputational costs of the Pentagon and the American authorities are much more significant. The country with the largest military budget in the world has been chasing a drifting balloon for many days and could not do anything. Notice, not with a massive raid of hypersonic missiles, but with a balloon.

The “valuable trophy” or what is left of it is going to be taken out of the water and studied. Little consolation after many days of national disgrace.

By the way, the balloon epic for the United States is not over. According to some reports, another probe continues to fly, which has not yet been shot down. A presumably Chinese high-altitude probe was also seen over Costa Rica.

Analyzing all this balloon history, military expert Ilya Kramnik named several lessons that it is not a sin for us to learn. According to him, a high-altitude reconnaissance balloon is a relatively cheap way to get a survey of the terrain better than from a satellite, and with less vulnerability of the carrier to air defense.

At the same time, by changing the flight altitude, you can choose the desired air flow and thus make the flight of the balloon controllable. As for the US air defense and missile defense capabilities to detect, track and shoot down such a target, according to Kramnik, they have drastically decreased compared to the 70s of the last century.

Assessing the actions of the US Air Force in these “critical days”, Kramnik called the Pentagon’s statements “about” being shot down as soon as it ceased to pose a danger to people on the ground “false.”

“Over the taiga regions of Alaska, Canada and Idaho, where there are fewer people per kilometer than bears, it could be shot down with less danger to people on the surface than over the densely populated Atlantic coast,” the expert believes. “…Based on the parameters of the target, it can be assumed that they shot down as soon as it became possible – losing the working fluid, the ball gradually descended, and when it was at an altitude of ~ 20 thousand meters, it made sense to raise a fighter on it.

Now the question is: why don’t we use such an inexpensive and effective way to troll the US? A country that has declared us its adversary and enemy, which is massively supplying the Armed Forces of Ukraine with long-range weapons and declares its readiness to supply even more of them.

Why not build a small factory in some friendly country of the Western Hemisphere, close to the USA? Or two. One for the production of rubberized fabric, and the second for the production of helium. They would put the production of balloons on stream and launch dozens of them towards the United States. You see, the US would have other concerns besides putting pressure on Russia. Cheap and cheerful.

And, in fact, judging by the direction of air flows in the stratosphere, it is possible to launch probes towards the United States from our territory. So they would keep the US fighter aircraft in good shape. And at the same time they would receive valuable intelligence information, compensating for the acute shortage of their own satellites for sensing the Earth from space.