Balloons/Paper planes invisible to radar ?

[Skybuck Flying]

Hello,

Little question:

Are balloons/paper planes invisible to radar ?

If so maybe they good for stealth missions ?

Bye,
Skybuck

 

[Den]

Hello,

Little question:

Are balloons/paper planes invisible to radar ?

If so maybe they good for stealth missions ?

Bye,
Skybuck

It appears that balloons are:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7360416.stm

 

[Karl-Heinz Zeller]

Are balloons/paper planes invisible to radar ?

A balloon itself or a paper plane itself - without any control,
communication and power supply may be invisible to radar.

If so maybe they good for stealth missions ?

However, if you want to do any mission you will need explosives
or at least a camera together with electronics for command and
control, an antenna and a power supply (solar panel or battery)
and any of this workload is visible by radar.

Sincerely, Karl-Heinz

 

[Rich Grise]

Little question:

Are balloons/paper planes invisible to radar ?
Yes.

If so maybe they good for stealth missions ?

Probably not - how would you control them? ;-)

You can make a hot-air balloon with a dry cleaning bag, a few
soda straws, and a handful of birthday candles. Hang a corner
reflector from it, and watch the Flying Saucer reports pour
in! >:->

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[whit3rd]

Are balloons/paper planes invisible to radar ?

If so maybe they good for stealth missions ?

I wouldn't say 'good'; we in the Pacific Northwest (of the US)
were attacked by balloon incendiary bombs that Japan launched
into the jetstream from their home islands.

Civilian casualties were light, but firefighters died putting out
the blazes. It was declassified years ago, kept secret
at the time. It was kept SO secret that our own pilots
didn't know about the jet stream until they had navigation problems
at war's end (WW II, of course).

 

[krw]

Did you read about our recent (this past week) prankster? He tied
hazard flares to helium-filled balloons... UFO's were sighted over NW
Phoenix ;-)

Yes. Saw the pictures, even. We had a group of pilots flying
formation with lights every Thursday night a few years back. It was
funny to hear all the UFO reports. They finally heard from the
FAA...

(They were seen by flight controllers and pilots, but _did_not_ show
on radar.)

Wouldn't you expect LGMs to have perfected stealth technologies?

 

[krw]

Sure, but how can they scare the locals if they are undetectable? ;-)

They learned from Ghosts?

 

[Rich Grise]

Let me know when they develop a paper airplane that can carry a full
bomb load and cruise at Mach 1+.

Did you read about our recent (this past week) prankster? He tied
hazard flares to helium-filled balloons... UFO's were sighted over NW
Phoenix ;-)

(They were seen by flight controllers and pilots, but _did_not_ show
on radar.)
[/QUOTE]

Of course not - you need a corner reflector. >:->

Cheers!
Rich