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>s balloons would be reflecting solar IR

Solar IR is a small part of the downwelling solar spectrum.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0823/0287/files/atmospheric-absorption_848x452.png?v=1670339790

And the near infrared is heavily absorbed and emitted by CO2 and H20 so in those wavelengths that would be the ambient IR. The whole sky will look like it is those wavelengths.

You would also have to account for the upwelling radiation (very very very roughly shown here in Khiel and Trenberth 97 https://chriscolose.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/an-update-to-kiehl-and-trenberth-1997/ )

These wavelengths have always been a huge problem for IR.

Operating in these wavelengths is "the endorsement of the air force you think it is!"

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I have no idea what I’m looking at

Isnt a bullet more efficient? Why would they launch a missile?

Like it's a balloon ffs, if the surface is punctured it'll go down really fast i believe

>1 out of 2 hit rate for half million dollar seeking missiles versus a balloon

A heat seeking missile hitting an object that would be only a few degrees above ambient air temperatures.

>What a joke

Who is laughing. The worlds second largest military and the US defined pacing threat thought their balloons were near undetectable and untouchable. Here the US pilots are taking pictures of these balloons from above.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/our-best-look-yet-at-the-chinese-spy-balloons-massive-payload

The US then had to look at and bring down some random sky trash just to be sure there were not other spy assets using the flight profile of abandoned balloons. It looked silly but again they showed capabilities that surprised some pretty seasoned observers.

The incident will be forgotten in a few weeks. China's "super secret" years long spying on various countries by balloons that were unreachable has now been retired.

http://www.hisutton.com/Chinese-Navy-High-Altitude-Spy-Balloons.html

This is the AIM-9X which uses an imaging infrared focal plane array and compatibility with JHMCS equipped helmets. They can lock on to balloons, as balloons would be reflecting solar IR and, besides, the sensor is an imaging sensor not a hotspot detector.

Even if it was an older AIM-9J or even older, with the passive IR sensor you're thinking of, saying "Yeah but they didn't use the right missile" isn't the endorsement of the air force you think it is!

The AIM-9 was designed to shoot down an aircraft with a high heat signature. The balloon was neither of those.

Society if voting on problems could solve global problems:

*insert picture of highly advanced and futuristic scenery*

Gotta train the troops anyway. Even pilots need practice. I consider it a plus, because in all likelihood, that's what they would have been doing anyway, just without a real target to really shoot at.

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Was wondering why the total wasn't even 150...

That’s right. Uruguay and Chile have done a really great job in the last couple of decades. The rest of Latam need to learn from them!

Yes. I mean it’s now 12 months since Putin invaded Ukraine and they are only now voting on this.

Yeah definitely, the 9x is nothing like the 9a from the 50s. Just saying that calling it a joke is ridiculous when it's the single most tried and true short range missile on the planet.

It’s been upgraded numerous times and the latest aim9x version is the best or very close to the best high of bore sight short range infrared missile in the world.

A pie chart with two categories is dumb.

Yeah, if you've got like 6 different things then percentages alone can make it difficult to visualize.

But I think we can handle two numbers.

The Sidewinder is 70 year old technology. It's still used by nearly every NATO military to this day because it's the best at what it does.

No joke.

Imagine being the guy who managed to miss a virtually stationary $50 balloon with an AIM-9X.

The Russians will be falling over themselves laughing.

I genuinely feel so sorry for Mexico. The world's biggest companies are looking to move manufacturing out of China and Mexico is right fucking there. It has so much going for it as the next hub of manufacturing but it won't happen due to the cartels/political system.

Well, they probably would have spend this money on a routine exercise. But that day they had a real target to train!

I would use a better alternating color scheme, so it's easier to tell neighbors apart, or put the names on the other side of 'the x-axis', next to their respective peaks, so that way your eyes don't have to skip from right to left when reading the whole image, including the text

No wasted money here. STOLEN is the word for it. Government and their neverending list of ultra-expensive national emergencies...

"socialist Russia" what the fuck are you smoking, please do tell so I can avoid it

Should be in r/coolguides as How to Waste Taxpayers' Money