AIM-9X looks like it hit the gondola payload, not the balloon envelope.
Which means there probably won't be much of value to find in the ocean off the coast.
In the video Ward Carroll referred to the Aim 9x missile as an arrow not a shotgun, I wonder if that means the missile didn’t explode on impact, basically it was a giant needle that punctured the balloon causing it to deflate, instead of exploding.
I agree, looks to me like they managed to take it down so as to not recover much.
The stuff hanging from the balloon looks like a solar array with some antennas at the ends.
The big black circle at the bottom of the balloon, lack of a hanging equipment gondola, and the pentagon saying it has propellers, according to the narrator, suggest that there is hardware inside the balloon above the black spot, possibly retractable in daytime. Airships used to have structure including walkways inside the envelope.
The video shows the sidewinder hitting the base of the balloon, as you say, which is counterintuitive if you accept the narrator statement that it was targeting in the optical band. It could be the black spot was hotter than the envelope, but I doubt it. The top part was reflecting direct sunlight.
My point is the missile probably hit the part of most intelligence value, and detached it from the balloon which would otherwise have made it fall and hit slower, like you would want.
Maybe they didn’t want to recover anything of intelligence value. Or maybe they thought the payload would self destruct more effectively if only the balloon were damaged. Maybe the black spot was hot because it was radiating a lot of power dissipation from electronics and the sidewinder was just doing what sidewinders do.
Which means there probably won't be much of value to find in the ocean off the coast."
If it's a ChiCom spying machine wouldn't that be exactly what they would want?
I haven’t watched. Was there a warhead, or just kinetic?