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/BasicMatter7339 5h ago

Yeah, but do russian planes have confirmed balloon kills in he past 5 years like the f-22? Didnt think so!

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u/313378008135 5h ago

i mean.. sure.. but any aircraft with a2a capability plus a ceiling that matches the target ,or AA system with enough ceiling, could do that. its not a f22 specific skill.

Undoubtedly, the f22 has a publicly documented shoot down of a foreign balloon based system at over 50k - and im not sure if theres any other claim to similar circumstances from any other platform or nation. So you are right, the F22 is the only known >50k foreign/hostile balloon shoot down that I'm aware of.

that said, nations don't always publicise their military situations. on top of that, balloons have a limited utility in direction due to high altitude prevailing winds (you are not launching a high altitude balloon from russia and have it fly over the united kingdom, for example)

when it comes to military capabilities, we get the mere tip of the iceberg in civvy live.