The US shot down a balloon with a $400k AIM-9X missile “killing a chicken with a buffalo scalpel.”
With its military might, economic strength and technological advances, the United States has become a superpower. This power is now being used to demonstrate America’s dominance on the world stage. This show of muscle power has been seen in recent foreign policy decisions, such as sanctions against countries like Iran and Venezuela, and military operations in Iraq and Syria. It is also evident in America’s trade wars with China and other nations. As a result, many are questioning why America is so eager to show off its muscle power now.
Chinese media say Washington demonstrated its superiority by “using a buffalo scalpel to kill a chicken” when an F-22 aircraft used the AIM-9X missile, which costs about $400,000. However, analysts believe that the AIM-9X missile is the best option for this purpose.
When the U.S. ordered F-22 jets to launch AIM-9X missiles worth about $400,000 to shoot down a Chinese balloon, analysts say the U.S. overreacted. The US action is theoretically like killing a chicken with a buffalo bark. According to Global Times, a Chinese publication, in addition to overreaction, it also shows a lack of practice. On February 4, an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile fired by a US F-22 stealth fighter shot down a Chinese balloon in the ocean off South Carolina. China alleged that the balloon strayed into US territory while being used for climate research. According to the allegations made by the American Pentagon, the Chinese government used this balloon to spy on important military installations. Since the middle of last week, the U.S. military began evaluating the possibility of shooting down the balloon, and two F-22 stealth planes were sent from Nellis Base, more than 1,100 kilometers from South Carolina, to prepare for the mission. The F-22 Raptor is a fighter jet with a high ceiling, which is why the US decided to use it as a stealth interceptor. The F-22 is able to get closer to a hot air balloon flying at an altitude of more than 18 km thanks to its higher canopy than the F-15 and F-16. Three weapons are carried by the F-22 stealth fighter during anti-aircraft interception missions: the M61 gun, the AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range surface-to-air missile, and the AIM-120C/D AMRAAM at medium range. Air-to-air missile.
According to military experts, the AIM-9X missile, which costs about $400,000, is the cheapest way for the United States to bring down the balloon.
It is difficult to drop balloons at such a height. They pose a number of problems for missile guidance systems,” explained Tyler Rogway, a military analyst. “The airship’s thermal signal and radar cross-section are quite modest. Mainly making it difficult to track and lock on a target using conventional techniques. The radar reflectivity area of each balloon is comparable to that of a small bird,” the report said. Reported by the US Air Force’s Air Force Research Institute (AFRI). “The balloons are also traveling much slower than their regular flying targets, which is why they are often undetectable by current Doppler radars,” the Air Force Research Institute said. Even if the fighter fired after closing on the target, there was still a chance that the missile would pass through the balloon shell without exploding. Because of this, the balloon is difficult to land and floats in the air, making the retrieval of the cargo more difficult. Instead of hitting the target directly, the majority of current air-to-air missiles are equipped with a proximity-to-target fuse that detonates near the target, destroying or severely damaging an enemy weapon. A significant amount of metal shrapnel is generated for While the AIM-9X uses lasers for short-range attack, medium-range air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-120 typically use radar-activated near-target fuzes. According to expert Rogoway, “The AIM-120 missile’s radar-enabled close-in target detonation may not be able to engage a target with a radar reflection area as small as a balloon, causing the projectile to fail at this time.” flew freely until it self-destructed. Earth.”
The F-22’s 20mm cannon is considered a much cheaper alternative to the AIM-9X missile, but it has several drawbacks. Since the effective range of the M61 cannon is about 600 meters, the F-22 must pass very close to the balloon to hit the target. The US fighter jet will not be able to hit the target at the angle of descent as the F-22 has a ceiling of 18 km and the aircraft operates at an altitude of about 18.3 km. If the aircraft’s thin shell is struck by a solid object, such as the fuselage and engine, the 20 mm cannon’s fragmentation mechanism) does not engage. Although the use of low-explosive training rounds or armor-piercing rounds can reduce the risk, it does not ensure that the balloon is dropped immediately. At an altitude of less than 12 km, Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighters fired more than 1,000 mm cannonballs at a weather balloon in 1998, but the balloon did not come down and instead hovered for days. remained, which disrupted the air. Traffic over the Atlantic Ocean.
