![]() ![]() This is not the first time balloons have been used for spying. Test launch of a US spy balloon At Holloman Air Force base in New Mexico in the 1950s. Worse, a failed attempt to bring it down would be a public relations disaster. territory and claiming a ‘kill’ would be difficult. However the balloon would continue to drift over U.S. Destroying this would put the balloon out of action and prevent it from carrying out espionage. Interceptor aircraft may in principle be able to get a missile lock and hit the balloon’s small gondola, the suspended capsule containing its cameras, control systems and radio communications. (The Canadian balloon drifted into Russian territory and is believed to have come down in the Arctic Sea). This may be the Air Force’s real concern with intercepting the Chinese balloon: any missile fired at it may be a much greater hazard to civilians below than the balloon itself, which is likely to descend slowly if at all. This was not enough to let a significant amount of gas out, and the balloon continued drifting.Ī volley of 2.75” rockets was equally ineffective, as the high-explosive rockets simply flew though the balloon without detonating. Two Canadian air force CF-18 fighters hit the balloon with more than 1,000 rounds of 20mm cannon fire off the coast of Newfoundland, riddling it with holes. Fighter jets from Canada, Norway and Sweden attempted to bring it down without success. In 1998 a rogue Canadian weather balloon drifted towards Russian airspace. We know that large balloons are hard to shoot down from previous experience. ![]()
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