Yep their going to catch him 

Neither a Barrett, nor a laser from the ground would be effective.  It's altitude is 60,000ft.

IF the .50 could hit say... 4000fps, and the projectile could MAINTAIN 4000fps, it would require 15 seconds of flight time just to REACH the altitude.  Without auxiliary rocket power in it's taper, the .50 (12.7mm) will have lost all it's kinetic energy before crossing 2500ft.  In comparison, the German 128mm FLAK40 could peak to 48,500ft...  that's still short.

Now, if you were in an aircraft flying at that altitude, you'd have to be moving a bit fast.  A quad mount of .50's leaving a strafing trail MIGHT do it, but in WW2, the 50's, and many 20mm cannons failed to operate at higher (meaning, 30,000+) as a result of temperature being so low that they wouldn't operate (wouldn't cycle or fire).  The tactic used THEN, was to come in at lower altitude, dive (to pick up speed), then pitch up (to 'arc' a shot) and fire ABOVE, in hopes that the projectiles would come back... but you're still looking at a short range of only a few thousand feet.

Lasers don't do a good job cutting through water vapor, or anything reflective.

The proper weapon here, would be a U2, and a good-ol' fashion Mississippi River Trotline.  250ft of 200lb test cord with 100 or so treble hooks spaced every two feet, and a breakaway clip at one end tied to the tail of the plane.  Fly around for a look or three, then pass over top to introduce a little ventilation.

The balloon is probably doing several things, first is recording sensitive comms, the second is probably gathering any wifi/network access info... last is taking pictures.

You'll hear the 'suits' saying it is 'just weather' because 'inferior to satellite'... well, that's not true.  Satellites can do quite a bit, but the balloon functions closer, which means it has the ability to focus it's listening on specific points with much greater immunity to large-area signals.  Effectively, it can perform the electronic equivalent of eavesdropping on a personal conversation amidst a rock-concert.  Let's say that ballon can connect to your cellphone, or your TV, or your Wi-Fi computer via a hardware 'back door' in it's Chinese-made chipset... that balloon, at 60,000ft, will get a full signal strength on your cell, TV, or WiFi device (Hey Alexa...) to pick your house, and select which device, they want to hear.

Unlike satellites, ballons have basically an indefinite loiter time... they can 'park' over an area and just do their work.  Satellites follow orbits, so unlike the 'movie' bits (where someone calls a satellite to 'go somewhere and do something', they can only 'sweep' as they pass by at some elevation and velocity.

What we SHOULD do, is strip-hook it (as noted above) with a parachute array on the hook, ventilate it, and as it falls, pop the chutes so it lands softly, for recovery and analysis.

What we'll most likely find, is that as it falls, there will be integrated devices (pyrotechnic and chemical) that cause it to self-destruct, at which time, it will be prima-facie evidence of being something other than ''meteorologic study".

Balloon prolly is made out of some kind of kevlar or rubber that can/will withstand lots of pressure. Think the treble hooks would maybe not penetrate material and slit it. 

Thing might be 60 ft diameter or greater, like maybe 300' +/-. Haven't heard how big it really is.

  Since your going up with an F22, mount the laser cutter on it and start cutting as you fly at the balloon.

 Now there's two of them floating around...

 No body has said a word about the 'what ifs', if it were filled with more covid crap... or some other disease or chemical... or some wmd device...

 Should have destroyed it when it was traversing across the top end of the world.

Published February 4, 2023 5:07pm EST

As part of the recovery mission, several U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels established a security perimeter surrounding the area in the Atlantic Ocean roughly six miles off the coast where the balloon crashed after being shot down, DOD officials said. The vessels are searching for and collecting any debris associated with the balloon.

Because the device fell into a relatively shallow area, which has an estimated depth of 47 feet, the recovery mission is expected to be "fairly easy," one official stated. However, officials said there was no estimate for the length of the mission.

Excellent!  Do 'em ALL.

Any modern fighter can bring down higher-alt targets with an AAM, provided they can vector it into the frame and lock on... AND... that the target doesn't have strategic countermeasures.  The problem with taking a shot like that, is having the bird miss it's (otherwise stationary) target, and loop around, but come back to find YOU instead.

The balloon can't dodge, but it doesn't have much of a signature, and it is otherwise a small target.

Bringing it down in one piece grants some significant intelligence data... just gathering and reassembling the antenna arrays tells us what bands, and what bandwidths it can 'work', as well as how narrow it can focus, which in turn identifies how weak a signal can be, and STILL have it grabbing info.  Being able to extract it's electronics package will readily identify wether it's a listen-only, or capable of transmitting too (which means, it's not Electronic Surveillance, it is Electronic Warfare).  Obtaining it's sensory package identifies just how much 'weather' it really is capable of gathering, as well as it's navigation and telemetry protocol.  Once assessed, that will identify what type of command system it uses, what it's satellite uplink and downlink carry, and from this, just how 'lost' it really was.

In the meantime, if they can't bring 'em down unscathed, turn them all into dust.

 Yep, Dave,,,the G-men always looking out for it's citizens,,,,?  The local Sheriff's Dept was alerted by the rancher who found the crash site on his land the next day after a horrific lightening storm that night. The Sheriffs deputies went out (about 50 miles) to investigate and reported to the local Newspaper ( Roswell Daily Record) which ran a front page article with a huge headline!! When the brass at Walker AFB became aware of the discovery, a bunch of airmen were sent to "retrieve' all traces of the discovery. Three additional sweeps were done. All the wreckage pieces were taken to the air base and stored in a huge hanger, and THAT hanger still exists today but has been "medically Cleaned" All of the wreckage was (suppossedly) transported within one week by air force planes to Wright Patterson AFB base in Ohio. The Air force official that was quoted by the newspaper later displayed some pieces of what was explained to be " A Crashed Weather Balloon" but NOT a Flying Saucer,,,,,,,,,,? Within a week, every airman that was sent to crash site to retrieve the remains was re-assigned to a different air base all over the world,,,BUT,,,,no two airmen went to the "same" air base,,,,? Believe it or else,,,,, We ain't alone out there, men.