Canada\u0027s airforce may not be great at interdicting aerial threats, but they could still destroy a slow\u002Dmoving balloon if they wanted to.
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“We do not in any way jeopardize the integrity of the operations which are being undertaken to protect national security, as well as the people who are engaged in those operations,” was how Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino explained the government’s official silence at a House of Commons committee hearing this week.Article content
The balloon — measuring about 60 metres tall — was ultimately brought down by an F-22 Raptor firing an air-to-air missile. While the balloon could conceivably have been downed with little more than a couple of high-caliber bullets, it was floating at an altitude well outside the range of U.S. fighter aircraft.
Canada has a small stockpile of Sidewinder missiles and any CF-18 could get the missile high enough to strike a target at 60,000 feet, the estimated cruising altitude of the balloon. The only problem is the RCAF’s ability to get to a remote corner of B.C. without running out of fuel.
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