[hhr]

Opinion that I find to be usefull on this: The surveillance balloons are very, very difficult to destroy, the aircraft's radar cannot see them, they fly almost in space at altitudes up to 25 km, they are painted in the color of the sky, or even transparent like jellyfish. Reflective surface is less than any of stealth planes. For any sane results, you need a dedicated aircraft with a special weapons set for destroying this thing. Missiles with a thermal homing head and special anti-aerostatic incendiary tracer shells, with a special fuse that is triggered when the thin shell of the balloon touches. This fuse is also triggered by raindrops, so it's better not to shoot them in the rain. Rockets, on the other hand, capture the heated sunny side of the balloon with their clever thermal head. Secondly, as a rule, one hit is not enough(due to the cell structure of balloon). Balloon doesn't give a fuck about shell holes, it will slowly descend to where it needs to go for thousands of kilometers dropping ballast more often. And by the way, he can also bang on a lucky hit and take the plane with him.

[jamisteven]

Nonsense, they have been tracking this thing since before it hit US airspace, through Alaska and Canada, they know exactly where it is and can take it out at any time they want.