The Biden Administration has been widely mocked for spending more than $1,600,000 million to shoot down what may have been only a $12 balloon. President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Thursday about the four shoot-downs that had occurred over the past two weeks involving a Chinese spy balloon and three other objects of unknown origin.
A report soon emerged that one of those objects may have been a toy balloon belonging to an Illinois-based hobbyist club. The military used AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles costing around $400,000 each to shoot down all four objects, bringing the total cost of shooting down the three still unidentified balloons to more than $1,600,000.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted: “To be fair, Biden is providing powerful deterrence for any high school science clubs that might try to invade America…” Donald Trump Jr. similarly mocked it: “Biden shot down some kids’ science project with a $400K sidewinder missile!” Former Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) called it “the Great Balloon Panic of 2023” and said it was likely friendly fire by an F-22 fighter jet firing an expensive AIM-9X Sidewinder missile due to misunderstanding or miscommunication from the Biden Administration.
Biden shot down some kids’ science project with a $400k sidewinder missile! Btw Biden admitted in his speech today, while not acknowledging this situation directly, that the balloons they shot down were likely just being used for “research or recreation” https://t.co/84yZbFZ924
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 16, 2023
These costs do not include fuel costs for operating the F-22s or any other aircraft involved in these shoot-downs, which can reach up to almost $100,000 per hour. The costs also don’t factor in recovery operations which have been ongoing for days in three different locations looking into what happened during these mysterious incidents at sea level off Alaska’s coast earlier this month.
RIP to the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s ~$80 ham radio transmitter balloon, likely the victim of friendly fire by a $143,000,000 USAF F-22 firing a $485,000 AIM-9X Sidewinder missile during the Great Balloon Panic of 2023. https://t.co/4gyy91I1Jv
— Peter Meijer (@RepMeijer) February 17, 2023
