re: #760 Gus 802

Oh. It mentions a service ceiling of 4 miles which is 21,120 feet. Afghanistan is of course well ASL in most place. So, say you’re in Afghanistan at 5,000 ASL. That means 21,120 - 5,000 or 16,120 feet range to the spy blimp. That’s within range of a FIM-92 Stinger. or close to a SA-24 Grinch 9K338 Igla-S.

Setting aside the fact that both these are IR, it’s not quite as easy as you think. The Igla has an altitude limit of about 11,500 feet AGL (from launch ground level), or about 5K feet short. The Stinger’s only good for another thousand feet.

Adding to this is the interesting internal design. First, not a single envelope but rather one containing several bladders (ala long-developed war blimp/dirigible design). Add ballistic resistance cloth, self-seal design on the envelope bottom, and the fact that helium isn’t explosive, and it becomes surprisingly difficult to shoot down with just a handful of man-portable AAMs.