AiTellyCan you imagine turning a simple balloon into a missile?
When a military is on a tight budget, they have to get creative.
All you really need is a balloon, a gondola, and a barometric altimeter.
If you attach a drone to this setup, it can act just like a cruise missile As it only needs to use 5% of its fuel to actually hit the target, since the balloon does all the heavy lifting!
But wait, why can’t modern anti-air defenses just shoot these down?
First of all, these balloons have a tiny radar cross-section because they’re made of canvas and synthetic materials, making them almost invisible to radar.
Then, there’s a darker strategy.
They can send cheap balloon decoys rigged to mimic the radar signature of an actual fighter jet.
By forcing the defending military to shoot down cheap balloons with multi-million-dollar interceptors, the enemy easily depletes their missile stockpiles.
We actually saw this dilemma play out in real life when an F-22 Raptor fired an incredibly expensive missile—instead of just using its cannon—to take out that infamous Chinese spy balloon!”
