> ...
>> The way it was blown to bits by air to air missile leaves them with
>> debris spread over about 50 square miles and a kit of bits that will
>> require a lot of reassembling to figure out what it was capable of. >
> Excuse me- the missile struck the balloon proper, not the payload. And the debris were scattered over only 15 miles.
>
>>
>> It was the perfect target for a directed energy weapon. Just hit it
>> enough to allow gas to escape, it will lose lift and descend gracefully
>> once it runs out of ballast to discharge (or possibly self destruct). >
> Uh-huh- and what platform is carrying such a non-existent weapon?
Land based? Sea based? I heard some ships have them, but maybe can not be aimed on a balloon.
It would have been interesting to try.