Comments by "peabase" (@peabase) on "US fighter jet shoots down 'unidentified object' over Canada | DW News" video.

@mp40submachinegun81 There's an entire ocean between the two countries, so the cannon fire was really ineffective. I'm sure the rounds went in and out without exploding. I imagine that the AIM-9X with its interlinked steel rods forming a giant cookie cutter is the other extreme. The payload must've dropped like a brick.
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The Canadians tried to gun down a rogue weather balloon in 1998, with the very same Vulcan 20 mm autocannon as on the F-22. The stricken balloon still flew across the Atlantic to touch down in Scandinavia.
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@Foersom_ A Zeppelin has an internal structural framework. More likely, because of its small size, this was a non-rigid airship, lacking the internal framework. A blimp, in other words.
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As a kid, I lived close to Schiphol airport, one the busiest in Europe. Sometimes it was so misty I could hear the aircraft laboriously gain height, but I couldn't see them. I had a pretty good idea what they were, but since I couldn't positively identify their type, they were UFOs. Later, when I got myself a scanner, these UFO inundations lessened considerably.
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@Tintan435 The CF-18 has a service ceiling of 50,000 ft, while that of the F-22 is 65,000 ft. I know the first balloon flew at 60,000 ft.
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@mp40submachinegun81 True, but the CF-18 becomes erratic at altitudes above its service ceiling. It becomes hard to acquire a target that doesn't have a clear heat signature, especially if your jet lurches about the sky. Incidentally, a CF-18 tried to down a rogue Canadian weather balloon at 60,000 ft with its cannon in 1998. It fired 1,000 rounds at the balloon, but it didn't stop the balloon from crossing the Atlantic and touching down in Scandinavia. I served with Canadians in Kosovo. They weren't bad shots.
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The Chinese are really regretting that there's no way to recall these balloons. Or maybe they'll autodestruct the rest before they reach land.
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Sensible, that. First they need to make sure whose balloon it is. Unfounded accusations are the prerogative of conspiracy theorists and propagandists.
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