The First Intercontinental Weapon: WW2 Japan’s Fu-Go Balloon Bombs

The First Intercontinental Weapon: Japan’s Fu-Go Balloon Bombs
Today we’re going to talk about a lesser-known and mind-blowing fact from World War II: Japan’s Fu-Go weapon, the first intercontinental weapon in history.
Late in the war, the Japanese launched the Fu-Go weapon, known as “Code Fu”: The weapons were hydrogen balloons carrying 70 pounds of explosives or incendiaries. Planners calculated that when released in Japan, the jet stream would carry the balloons over the Pacific Ocean until they reached North America, where their bombs would drop on cities, forests, and farms. The planners’ dearest hope was that the balloon-borne bombs would ignite devastating wildfires in the heavily forested Pacific Northwest, wreak havoc, and cause widespread panic.
The Fu-Go fire balloons were technically the first weapons ever with an intercontinental range. In that respect, they preceded both the American B-36 Peacemaker bomber and the Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile.
The balloon bomb concept was developed by the Imperial Japanese Army’s Ninth Technical Research Institute (also known as the Noborito Research Institute), tasked with creating special weapons. In 1933, Lieutenant General Reikichi Tada started a balloon bomb program at Noborito designated Fu-Go 1.
On November 3rd, 1944, Japan released its first series of Fu-Go Weapon balloon bombs as a way of “invading” the US from afar and creating havoc among its citizens and government. It was meant to be “revenge” for the Doolittle raids on Japan 2.
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