大約 25 年前，當一個氣象氣球失控時，戰鬥機向它發射了 1,000 發子彈，但無法將其擊落

大約 25 年前，事實證明，一個大型失控的氣象氣球對於試圖將其擊落的兩架戰鬥機來說是相當具有挑戰性的，即使向它發射了 1,000 多發子彈，它仍能留在空中。

據美聯社當時報道，研究氣球正在測量加拿大上空的臭氧水平。 它於 1998 年 8 月開始肆虐，飛越加拿大，飛越大西洋，穿過英國領空，然後進入冰島領空，然後向北漂流。

兩架加拿大皇家空軍 CF-18 戰鬥機在紐芬蘭上空發現了這個氣球，並向它發射了 1,000 多發子彈。 美聯社報道說，噴氣式飛機是美國 F/A-18 大黃蜂的加拿大變體，它撞上了氣球，但它並沒有爆裂或爆炸並墜落到地球上，而是慢慢開始泄漏氦氣。 大氣球還在空中。

加拿大軍方發言人史蒂夫威爾斯中尉告訴 BBC，很難瞄準氣球，儘管它大約有 25 層樓那麼大，未能將其取出並不令人尷尬。

“像這樣的東西，當 CF-18 飛得非常非常快時它會靜止在空中，很難射擊它，”威爾斯說。

據報道，CF-18 配備了空對空導彈，但加拿大少校 Roland Lavoie 告訴美聯社，飛行員沒有使用它們。

他說：“市民不會喜歡導彈從他們頭上飛過。”“此外，花費數十萬美元購買導彈來擊落正在飄走的氣球可能有點過分了。”

據英國廣播公司報道，該氣球也在與英國和美國飛機的相遇中倖存下來。

據英國廣播公司報道，事發時，300 英尺高的氦氣球促使空中交通管制員改道並推遲跨大西洋航班。 據《愛爾蘭時報》報道，如果放氣，氣球將覆蓋大約五個足球場的面積。

美國目前有一個中國氣球，五角大樓官員稱這是一個情報收集間諜氣球，但中國認為這是在其領空內的一項研究資產，並且一直存在關於將其擊落的問題。

五角大樓新聞秘書帕特萊德准將周四表示，氣球的運行高度高於商業空中交通，“不會對地面人員構成軍事或人身威脅”。 儘管如此，美國還是緊急出動了 F-22 猛禽戰鬥機和其他飛機作為回應。

萊德說，目前沒有擊落氣球的計劃。 即使採取了保護措施，“我們的軍事指揮官判斷我們沒有將風險降低到足夠低，所以我們沒有開槍，”他說。

萊德還表示，國防部高級官員多次建議“不要採取動能行動，因為可能的碎片場會給地面人員的安全和保障帶來風險”。

“我們想，你知道，注意不要有人受傷或財產沒有被毀壞，”他說，並詳細說明氣球大到足以造成碎片場的破壞。 專家還表示，實際擊落它可能比看起來更複雜。

When a weather balloon went rogue almost 25 years ago, fighter jets fired 1,000 rounds at it and couldn't bring it down

Almost 25 years ago, a large runaway weather balloon proved to be quite challenge a for a pair of fighter jets trying to shoot it down, staying in the air even after more than 1,000 rounds were fired at it.

The research balloon was measuring ozone levels above Canada, the Associated Press reported at the time. It went rogue in August 1998, passing across Canada, over the Atlantic Ocean, and through British airspace before entering Iceland's airspace and then drifting northward. 

Two Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter aircraft spotted the balloon over Newfoundland and fired more than 1,000 rounds at it. The AP reported that the jets, Canadian variants of the American F/A-18 Hornet, hit the balloon, but rather than popping or exploding and crashing to the earth, it slowly began leaking helium. The big balloon was still in the air.

A Canadian military spokesperson, a lieutenant named Steve Wills, told BBC that it was difficult to target the balloon, even though it was about the size of a 25-story building, and that the failure to take it out wasn't embarrassing.

"With something like this, which is stationary in the air when the CF-18s are flying very, very fast, it is difficult to shoot it," Wills said.

The CF-18s were reportedly equipped with air-to-air missiles, but Canadian Major Roland Lavoie told AP the pilots refrained from using them. 

"Citizens would not have appreciated having a missile blowing over their heads,″ he said. "Also, it might be overkill spending a couple of hundred thousand dollars on a missile to shoot down a balloon that's drifting away."

The balloon, BBC reported, also survived encounters with British and American aircraft.

According to BBC reports from the time of the incident, the 300-ft helium balloon prompted air traffic controllers to divert and delay transatlantic flights. If deflated, the balloon would cover an area of about five football fields, The Irish Times reported.

The US currently has a Chinese balloon, which Pentagon officials say is an intelligence-gathering spy balloon but China argues is a research asset, in its airspace, and there have been questions about shooting it down.

Brigadier Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Thursday that the balloon is operating at a higher altitude than commercial air traffic and "does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground." Nonetheless, the US scrambled F-22 Raptors and other aircraft in response. 

Ryder said there were no current plans to shoot down the balloon. Even with protective measures, "it was the judgment of our military commanders that we didn't drive the risk down low enough, so we didn't take the shot," he said. 

Ryder also said there were multiple recommendations from senior Department of Defense officials "not to take kinetic action due to the risk to safety and security of people on the ground from the possible debris field."

"We wanted to, you know, take care that somebody didn't get hurt or property wasn't destroyed," he said, detailing that the balloon is large enough to cause damage from a debris field. Experts have also said that actually shooting it down may be more complicated than it seems.