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Comment by pohl | Hacker News Reader

The missile was locked [Edit: had mistakenly said “guided”] by where the pilot was looking, and guided by IR so that it could hit precisely. Also, this missile had no warhead. They removed it on purpose to limit the damage. They wanted to maximize what they could recover and study.

Had the balloon been at an altitude the guns could reach, though, maybe the would have used them.

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It was an AIM-9 Sidewinder. They're not sight directed; I think you're confused by the fact that the pilot can generate a lock-on by looking.

I can't find any reputable source claiming a removed warhead, and there's a visible detonation (it's not a Michael Bay movie, folks, they don't add gasoline to make a pretty fireball) on the close-up video; that greyish smoke cloud didn't come from the balloon. https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1621996717624393728

Yeah that missile fused. It was a normal AIM-9X. Missile war cranium detonations are underwhelming (there's not that many pounds of explosives involved) because they are trying to kill aircraft via shrapnel of some kind. Two common designs are a continuous rod that expands in a circle around the detonation, or a hashed metal casing that produces hundreds of small fragments.

I've seen this incorrect take repeated several places and I'm wondering where it originates. Yes, the missile had a warhead. No, missiles are not guided by where pilots are looking.

> Had the balloon been at an altitude the guns could reach, though, maybe the would have used them.

The jet was flying at approximately the same altitude of the balloon. The altitude of the balloon was below the max service ceiling of the aircraft.

Apparently, there is already precedent for the guns not being a great choice:

The time a wayward Canadian balloon caused an international stir — and thwarted 3 air forces:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/weather-balloon-canada-chin...

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