Air Force Set to Shoot Down Its Own Giant Spy Blimp

[Anti Federalist]

Air Force Set to Shoot Down Its Own Giant Spy Blimp

http://www.wired.com/2012/03/giant-spy-blimp/

After spending more than $140 million, the Air Force is poised to pull the plug on its ambitious project to send a king-sized, all-seeing spy blimp to Afghanistan. Which is a bit of a strange move: Not only is the scheduled first flight of the 370-foot-long “Blue Devil Block 2” airship less than six weeks away, but just yesterday, a top Air Force official bragged to Congress about the blimp’s predecessor, the “Blue Devil Block 1″ program. In other words, the Air Force is set to ground its mega-blimp spy ship before it even gets off the ground — literally.

Not long ago, Blue Devil and its kind were being pushed as the future of aerial surveillance. Instead of a drone’s single sensor, Blue Devil would employ an array of cameras and eavesdropping gear to keep tabs on entire villages for days at a time. And with so much space aboard the airship, racks and racks of processors could process the data generated by those sensors in the sky, easing the burden on intelligence analysts currently overloaded by drones’ video feeds.

Now, that lighter-than-air future could be in jeopardy, thanks to a series of schedule delays, technical complications and, above all, inflated costs. But it’s not just Blue Devil that’s in trouble. The Navy just deflated its MZ-3A blimp. The Army’s Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle airship, which was supposed to be in Afghanistan by now, has run into significant development roadblocks as well. Blimps’ status as the Next Big Thing in high-flying spycraft is in jeopardy.

More at link...

[GunnyFreedom]

payola

[donnay]

After spending more than $140 million of our money!

[Uriel999]

Well I guess it is better than spending decades and billions more trying to make it work...like the osprey....Jesus that thing is a deathtrap...AND I can't believe now the Army is looking at making their own version when they have the Blackhawk might as well be God's gift to the US military because that thing is the best thing since sliced bread.

[pcosmar]

I thought we were getting out of Afghanistan,,, :rolleyes:

[Anti Federalist]

I thought we were getting out of Afghanistan,,, :rolleyes:

They'll just deploy them here to keep us under surveillance.

[tangent4ronpaul]

They'll just deploy them here to keep us under surveillance.

Most likely. Gvmt agencies must make surplus equipment available to other government agencies first, before putting them up for auction to the general public.

I hear DHS drool...

-t

[jkr]

glad i kept my receipt...

[phill4paul]

They'll just deploy them here to keep us under surveillance.

Boom! Spot on. No chance of a citizen shooting it down here. We don't have the the benefactor of world government controlled monopoly on STA's. The thing would look real sharp over the continental U.S. Awesome!

[Anti Federalist]

Boom! Spot on. No chance of a citizen shooting it down here. We don't have the the benefactor of world government controlled monopoly on STA's. The thing would look real sharp over the continental U.S. Awesome!

Comrade, your wish is our command.


Come October, the Pentagon will be flying the Maryland skies with two blimp-like crafts tasked with conducting surveillance operations and protecting Capitol Hill and surrounding jurisdictions from attacks.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/24/army-deployment-spy-blimps-near-dc-skies-sparks-pr/#ixzz2y4PdLkaj
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter



Is a blimp watching you? New surveillance craft raises privacy questions

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/24/blimplike-surveillance-craft-set-to-fly-over-maryland-raises-privacy-questions/

Published January 24, 2014

The Pentagon plan to deploy two large blimplike aircraft 10,000 feet into the sky about 45 miles northeast of Washington, D.C., has raised new privacy concerns even though the Army says there is nothing to be worried about.

The aircraft was described as aerostats, which means they are lighter than air while being tethered to the ground, The Washington Post reported. These aircraft have been employed in Iraq, Afghanistan and on the Mexican border because they can be equipped with radars and high-altitude surveillance systems that are capable of spotting flying objects up to 340 miles away. These systems are militarily valuable because they are capable of tracking low-flying missiles and movement on the ground.

The $2.7-billion Maryland project is reportedly set to begin in October and span three years on the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in suburban Baltimore. The project's intended goal is to detect any low-flying missiles or enemy aircraft that might be headed to the capital, the report said.

"That's the kind of massive persistent surveillance we've always been concerned about with drones"
- Jay Stanley, a privacy expert for the American Civil Liberties Union

Raytheon, a defense contractor, said last year that these aerostats can carry powerful surveillance systems capable of tracking people and vehicles from miles away, the report said. The Army, though it did not rule out the possibility of mounting these cameras, reportedly said it has no current plans to install them.

The Washington Post reported that the Army said in a letter to the newspaper that it did not conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment because there is no intention of collecting any personally identifiable information.

"The primary mission . . . is to track airborne objects," the Army said in the letter to The Post. "Its secondary mission is to track surface moving objects such as vehicles or boats. The capability to track surface objects does not extend to individual people."

[phill4paul]

Comrade, your wish is our command.

Where's our Charlie Wilson?

[Anti Federalist]

Where's our Charlie Wilson?

What's the trouble Comrade?


The Washington Post reported that the Army said in a letter to the newspaper that it did not conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment because there is no intention of collecting any personally identifiable information.

Do you not feel reassured?

[Occam's Banana]

After spending more than $140 million of our money!

"Mission Accomplished"