Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill14564
I suspect there are three reasons:
1. These balloons are not like kids balloons, you can't pop them with a pin which is what a 50 cal. round would be like. A nearby explosion was needed to shred the balloon sufficiently.
2. Those rounds need to land somewhere. Even if they hit the balloon they would continue to travel outward. The last thing the military needs is a headline about the house/car/pet/person the rounds hit on the way down.
3. The planes would not need to be nearly as close to the object to hit it with a missile.
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Thank you for the response. After the initial post I reached out to my old college roommate who is a career military man. He got back to me yesterday. The balloon is so high that it has a very low internal pressure. A 50 caliber would puncture the balloon but it would not explode as it may at a lower altitude. The concern then becomes the device remaining afloat and entering a slow decline. This prevent them from choosing the location that it would fall to.