https://thenationaldesk.com/news/ame...llance-balloon
Yes, they officially used two million dollar missiles to down a weather balloon. It took two shots. Apparently, the balloon put up a fight. "The object is said to have been an octagon shape with strings hanging off." "In the documents obtained by CTVNews.ca, a member of the RCMP told a Canadian military general in an email that "The module is from a company who sells weather monitoring equipment."
I have always surmised that our string making technology had extraterrestrial roots.