Reason for Deploying a 450 Billion Won Fighter Jet to 'Burst the Balloon'

US Deploys F-22 to Shoot Down Recon Balloon
Balloon Altitude 18 km...Beyond Reach of Conventional Fighters

On the 4th, the United States shot down a reconnaissance balloon over the coast of South Carolina, followed by another over Alaska on the 10th. The fighter jet used at the time was an F-22, costing $360 million (about 450 billion KRW) each. Why is such an expensive fighter jet used to burst a balloon?

According to Yonhap News, John Kirby, White House National Security Council (NSC) Strategic Communications Coordinator, stated in a briefing on the 10th (local time) that a "high-altitude object" was detected over the northeastern coast of Alaska, and at around 1:45 p.m. that day, an F-22 fighter jet was dispatched and shot it down. The U.S. previously shot down a reconnaissance balloon that violated the mainland airspace on the 4th with a missile fired from an F-22.

The US stealth fighter jet F-22 Raptor.
[Photo by Air Force]

The AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile fired by the F-22 Raptor costs $600,000 per missile, which is over 760 million KRW. This has drawn attention as to why the expensive F-22 and missiles are used instead of surface-to-air missiles or other fighters like the F-15 or F-16.

The F-22 Raptor is known as the world's most powerful fighter jet currently in existence. It has a top speed of over Mach 2.5 and can perform agile maneuvers such as directional changes while maintaining supersonic speed. The Raptor's engines produce the most powerful thrust among fighter jet jet engines. Its stealth capabilities are also excellent, making it difficult to be detected by enemy ground and fighter radars.

Typical fighter jets can usually only reach altitudes up to 15 km. However, the reconnaissance balloon was at an altitude of 18 km. This is why the F-22, not other fighters, was used. In fact, on the 4th, the F-22 fired an AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile at an altitude of 17.7 km and shot down the balloon at 19.8 km altitude. This is the first air-to-air combat record since the F-22 was deployed and the highest altitude kill record ever.

On the 4th (local time), the United States is seen shooting down a Chinese reconnaissance balloon that entered its territory using a stealth fighter jet.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Experts explain that the reason for using expensive missiles instead of cheap cannons is that it is practically difficult to shoot down large balloons (aerostats) with cannon shells, and the shells falling to the ground could cause unintended damage.

In fact, in August 1998, the Canadian Air Force used two CF-18 Hornet fighters to shoot down a weather balloon launched to measure ozone in Canada but failed. Despite firing over 1,000 rounds of 20mm cannon shells, the balloon only got holes but continued flying all the way to Iceland.

Meanwhile, with three reconnaissance balloons discovered within a week, the confrontation between the United States and China is intensifying. The U.S. Department of Defense stated, "Measures were taken in advance to prevent Chinese reconnaissance balloons from obtaining any significant information."

Currently, China has announced that U.S. reconnaissance balloons have violated Chinese airspace more than 10 times, which the U.S. government has denied as groundless.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.