James R. Shock

This is a good overview of the US Army's barrage balloon program in World War II.
I'm surprised that so little else has been written about barrage balloons, especially post-WWII usage. I have found anecdotal references to Iraqi, Egyptian, and Vietnamese usage, but nothing reliable.
Does anyone know any sources for further information?
I'm curious as to how new materials could be used in a modern barrage balloon. They could be mostly transparent and coated with material to reduce radar signature. Or they could be made highly visible, both to sight and radar, if the desire was to keep enemy aircraft away rather than to destroy them.
What about anti-helicopter use? Flying into the cables would be catastrophic, of course, but perhaps helicopter gunships could destroy the balloons from standoff positions more easily than fixed wing aircraft. Apaches were used to destroy Iraqi radar in the first SEAD missions of the Iraq war in this manner.
Hard to believe that no one else has thought of this, but there are no barrage balloons over Kiev.… (meer)