F-22 Effects First Air-to-Air Strike with Chinese Balloon Takedown

FR ^ | 2/5/2023 | me

[logi_cal869]

Walk of shame...

[freepersup]

Your attempt to mock the pilot is not working with me.

Why?

The pilot will not have to buy drinks for the foreseeable future.

Whether the pilot is a he or a she- and is single- then there will be an ou la la factor that will bring some smiles to their face compliments of their suitors.

The crew chief will also enjoy some credential boosting and will proudly adorn the aircraft with the requisite “kill” emblem.

Yes, as is the tradition, the pilot will endure some ribbing but will be infamous none the less, though through no fault of their own, and the pilot will become legend.

Lighten up Francis!

You know- the thing!

[gundog]

And over land. I’ll bet it would have floated gently to the ground.

[logi_cal869]

[Mr. Jeeves]

Next time it might even be a hang glider - the F-22 needs this kind of stress testing. :)

[Mark17]

but they declined to give the balloon’s location.

Probably hovering over Barksdale.

[FlingWingFlyer]

One hundred and fifty million bucks to pop a balloon. Yikes!

[Mark17]

Top Gun F-22 fighter

Top Gun?? I didn’t know USAF F-22s went to Top Gun, but maybe sometimes they do. Maybe Navy pilots sometimes attend Red Flag too. I don’t know for sure.

[piasa]

lol, that would be great

[piasa]

Knowing this administration, it took so long because they had to find a pilot who is a transgendered minority to do the honors.

[budj]

"...20mm gun should have been easy to use the gun on a balloon..."

The F22 fired from 58,000ft; the balloon was over 65,000ft. I don't think the gun would have the range. The stated ceiling for the F22 is "over 50,000ft".

[Neverlift]

Only the Biden administration would use an F-22 to stop inflation. (it’s a balloon, get it)

[Mr.Unique]

Thanks

[logi_cal869]

Next time it might get angry. /s

[TigersEye]

If the Pentagon won’t tell us where the 3rd balloon is the 4chan autistics will.

They’ll find it and post the latitude, longitude, altitude and airspeed with livestream updates. LOL

[TigersEye]

Yep. No doubt about it.

[flamberge]

I thought so too. Turns out I was mistaken.

Several other posters have noted that balloons are quite difficult to take down with bullets. I did not know that until I looked at some of the stories, which go back to world wars 1 and 2. It has been done before and it is harder than it looks.

It would have been an exercise in frustration for a fast-moving jet to destroy a high-altitude multi-celled balloon with cannon fire, possibly requiring dozens of close-range passes across the target before it would drift down. And each pass would have risked an aircraft in collision with a stationary object.

I believe they wisely chose a single-shot method that would look good on video and had minimal risks for the pilots.

[TigersEye]

Probably hovering over Barksdale.

Or Rehoboth Beach. :)

[flamberge]

Should have tried out our new laser tech.

We really don't want to show off things like that to the Chinese and confirm what we have. Keep them guessing.

Wait for a real war to bring out the exotic weapons. Assuming that we have any.

[logi_cal869]

Irony:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/4128863/posts

[Salvavida]

The biggest thing China and Russia deduced, is we have ZERO Integrated Air Defense System in the US; we don’t have a viable energy weapon that can be rapidly employed; and nothing in any of the Air Natl Guards that allows a state to independently order a shoot.

Oh, and Xiden is disgraceful allowing it to traverse the US.