Aim Sidewinder fired over Lake Huron

[sundance]

I understand that one sidewinder fired at the object flying over Lake Huron missed. Would that have crashed into the ground or lake or can the pilot destroy it in flight.

[phantomfixer]

from what I've read, there is roughly 400,000.00 at the bottom of Lake Huron, the cost of the 9X...I've not heard of the Aim-9 having a self destruct mode...

[jim_mi]

There has been much discussion on other sites about the wisdom of using a missile rather than guns to kill the "objects". Does anyone here have an opinion on this?

 

[manayunkman]

Got some balloons for Valentine’s Day but they got shot down before I got home.

 

 

[RedLegRob]

Guns / bullet holes would not deflate a balloon at that altitude... Canada tried that on a balloon several years ago. 2,000+ rds. did not bring down a weather balloon.

[collectsmedals]

From what I understand, the sidewinder missile uses an infrared heat-seeking guidance system for tracking targets. A small number of them also have a semi-active radar homing system that detects changed in target position. I would not expect a balloon to give off much heat or change position rapidly which I believe would account for the first missile missing. A balloon is not the type of target they were designed for. 

 

Also, while they are expensive, between approximately 381,000 and 409,000 each depending on the model, they are still the least expensive missile in our inventory.

[sundance]

I also heard that operating an F22 Raptor costs $85,000. per hour. Don't know if that's correct but that's what I heard on the news (so it must be true).

[sundance]

Also, manayunkman - sorry about those balloons. I hope you'll repay the government for those sidewinders.

[MinutemanEMTer]

Here's a link to Popular Mechanics that breaks down operating costs of most military aircraft in use. I don't know if they got this info from the GAO or not.

 

Operating Costs of America's Military Aircraft

[phantomfixer]

just got that the 9X block II is a little over 600K in 2023 prices....

thinking the aim9 was guided by the heat or signature (batteries.motors, solar panels etc) of the payload on the chinese balloon...not sure how it was guided to the kids hobby balloon over AK