F22 shooting this down is definitely a sign of strength. If this were a James bond movie, a predator drone would have just hooked that balloon and brought it back intact.
What prevents China or anyone else to just launch dozens or hundreds of these?
What prevents China or anyone else to just launch dozens or hundreds of these?
It was really flying really high. FL600 is ~roughly at Armstrong limit, or the altitude where you absolutely need a pressurized space suit if you want to go outside, or the water in your eyeballs will boil off. The very high performance jet that intercepted the balloon didn't climb to the same altitude as the balloon, as it was over the publicly stated ceiling for that plane. Instead, it did a zoom climb and fired a missile from below as it maxed out.
That said, drones vs ships seems like a starker cost differential than this.
It was a weather balloon.