Balloons in T2k

[Desert Mariner]

It's here!

Bonus!! I'm operating on my phone and really don't like web surfing on it.

[Raellus]

I haven't read the report yet, but it occurred to me that barrage balloons might fudge with air defense radars so maybe that's why they fell out of favor

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[CraigD6er]

Many years ago, back in the mid-late eighties, there was a suggestion for a containerised defence system for airfields and other priority targets. Bear in mind that munitions werent as smart as now and you still expected the enemy to overfly, or at least get very close, to launch an attack. The idea, as far as I can recall, was a number of containers scattered around the likely approaches and linked into a control centre. Being little more than shipping containers they could be moved around to prevent their coverage being plotted and thus avoided. When 1 or more containers were activated, they would launch flares, smoke cannisters and radar reflective balloons to decoy munitions and obstruct visual sighting. I presume that the balloons could also have acted as mini barrage balloons as well if they were tethered.
I'd guess that the smoke and flare launchers were little more than the same types of launchers fitted to AFV's, and the balloons were perhaps pre-inflated and ready to be released so that they would be in the air immediately.