My Take | How Washington fought off the great Chinese balloon invasion
- If the US needed millions of dollars to shoot down a couple of hobbyist balloons, a trillion-dollar military budget is not enough to fight China
A news story buried in Aviation Week in February offers great insight into why the United States needed a trillion US dollar budget for its military, and its politicians still complain that’s not enough to counter the “China threat”.
You may have heard about the three balloons that were shot down by US fighter planes after they downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon.
The three downed UFOs – which incidentally helped trigger a congressional hearing with a self-styled whistle-blower who claimed the US government had reverse-engineered alien technology, a violation of galactic intellectual property rights? – were almost certainly Pico balloons so beloved of hobbyists and amateur meteorologists. Aviation Week interviewed the boss of a US balloon manufacturer who tried unsuccessfully to tell his government.
“I tried contacting our military and the FBI – and just got the runaround – to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” said Ron Meadows, founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), a Silicon Valley company that makes purpose-built Pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists.
Costing between US$12-US$180 each, they can reach altitudes of 30,000 feet to 50,000 feet. They are typically made of thin polythene or latex and are filled with helium or hydrogen gas to achieve lift.