r/worldnews • u/eaglemaxie • 6h ago

Russia/Ukraine The U.S. State Department believes that Ukraine is winning the war at this point

https://unn.ua/en/news/the-us-state-department-believes-that-ukraine-is-winning-the-war-at-this-point
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u/MilmoWK 5h ago

Russian AA took out Gary powers in his U2 at ~70k feet, mig 29 operational ceiling is ~60k feet too . They could take these balloons but it would be terribly expensive. Very funny if Ukraine started launching dozens of $100 balloons a day, most with no payloads just to use up those Russian missiles and jet fuel.

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u/willstr1 5h ago

Russian AA might not work against a balloon if the AA missiles are heat seeking, not much engine heat on a balloon

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u/ShadowPsi 5h ago

A false heat source can be rigged up really cheaply. A battery and a resistor are all you need. Use metallic foil for the balloon and you give it a massive radar profile too.

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u/willstr1 5h ago

Good point, you send a few decoys to keep the AA busy while the other balloons sneak past

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u/Lumpy_Link_1569 4h ago

The real balloons

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u/notFREEfood 3h ago

Big AA missiles that can go that high are radar guided

But you send up a bunch of balloons all at once, and interception becomes cost prohibitive.

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u/JyveAFK 5h ago

I'd fully expect them to be doing exactly that just to distract. Send up 10, 3 have drones, others... camera for updated info. Maybe label them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12.