Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Air Raid Measures

Air Raid Measures is one of the Minutemen's support powers.

Overview
"You gotta be shitting me!"

-Andoran Apollo pilot, on seeing his wingman brought down by a barrage balloon.

During the GVAW, the Fereldan were faced with air raids by the Voshkod air forces based in western Aselia and the Low Countries. Despite the efforts of the FAF in defense of major Fereldan cities, Voshkod aircraft still managed to get through the defensive screens and strike at vulnerable targets. Often, Voshkod pilots would fly below the radar coverage provided by Fereldan's screens, striking at vulnerable targets. The Fereldan anti-aircraft systems were excellently made but could do nothing if they couldn't hit the target.

It was a relatively simple solution that solved the problem, and one that had already been around for some time surprisingly enough. In 1918, after facing bombing raids by Aselian zeppelins for the first time, the Fereldan started looking into means to defend their island. One idea was the "barrage balloon", a simple miniature blimp tethered to the ground, designed to dissuade low-flying aircraft. When the concept was brought back to be used against the Voshkod air force, numerous Yaks and MiG fighters fell screaming to the ground, and in time, the Voshkod pilots learned, by process of elimination, to fly higher than the balloons could reach.

After the GVAW, the balloons would once again be forgotten--until 1969, as the Minutemen rebellion was gathering steam. Around this time, the growing rebels soon found themselves in trouble with the Aquilan air force. Even with all their Lees and Quad guns and Shooting Stars and Red-Eyes, Aquilan aircraft were still managing to make their way past the net of defenses and strike at Minutemen targets. That was when several Fereldan sympathizers who had joined the rebellion recognized that the Aquilans were making the same errors as the Voshkod; flying low. They brought the concept of a new barrage balloon force to the Minutemen commanders, and after the theft of thousands of weather balloons and high-tensile tungsten wiring, the new Minutemen barrage balloons were ready.

There is no complex method behind the barrage balloons; they are left to hang in the air with the tungsten trailing behind them. Pilots moving at speed will be hard-pressed to identify the wires before slamming into them, and the strength of the tungsten means that even after a few good hits, the balloon will still provide adequate defense, and can be tethered anywhere a commander feels it needed to be. Aquilan and Voshkod pilots are starting to fear the balloons now, and will purposefully adjust their flight paths if they hear word of them, or until ground forces can disable the balloons by cutting the moorings.