I wonder how easy it was? They are going mach 1.3 and trying to hit something that likely has a small radar profile and by comparison is stationary. Probably no significant heat source.
The AIM-9X is an imaging seeker. Yes, it happens to use IR wavelengths, but all it needs is contrast, not a lot of heat. And the IR realm is a world of contrast. They appear to have been shooting up slightly at the balloon, but even if not, the balloon against the cold blue sky would have had significant contrast, even if only by solar reflection. Think about it, your eye can see the outline of the balloon, why wouldn't an imaging seeker be able to?
Lets have an example of IR and contrast. The following IR image is the carpeted floor of the hallway of my old house. The footprints are my youngest daughters footprints from walking down the hallway a minute or so before. Just by placing her feet on each point for a second or less at a normal walking pace she, very slightly, changed the temperature where her feet landed. This image is the result. I would say "Probably no significant heat source", but still able to be imaged.
With this kind of contrast an imaging tracker could easily make out each footprint as a target with clearly defined edges.
The days of requiring a hot afterburner flare to be tracked by an IR missile are long gone. Even the temperature difference of the heating by air friction on the leading edges of the wings are, and have been for quite a while, enough.
T!
www.thedrive.com
