Return of the Navy Blimps?

[Ian David]

by Joe Katzman on March 2, 2007 4:35 AM


TCOM 32M aerostat

In the aftermath of World War 2, blimps and tethered balloons found themselves phased out of the US military. That didn't begin to change until the 21st century (see DID April 2005, "USN, DARPA See Blimps & HULAs Rising"). The heavy-lift WALRUS project may have been canceled without explanation; but aerostat programs like JLENS cruise missile defense and its smaller RAID local surveillance derivative, and airships like the HAA/ISIS program, remain. The US Navy is also experimenting with aerostats for communications relay, surveillance, and radar overwatch functions - and this has become a formal program.

What's driving this interest? Four things. One is persistence, in an era where constant surveillance + rapid precision strike = a formidable military asset that some call surveillance-strike complexes. A second is cost, especially in an era of rising fuel prices. A recent US NAVSEA release offers figures that starkly illustrate the gap in surveillance cost per hour between an aerostat and planes or UAVs:

More:
http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/009487.php

[bif]

1. It's the blimp! It's the blimp! It's the Mothership!"

[Submariner]

2. The blimps could probably be set up

to fly over tankers/freighters day and night and detect any radioactivity on board, thereby flagging that ship for a 'hold' outside port and container inspections.

Navy a Go Go!

[Ian David]

3. They fly helicopters over Muslim mosques looking for radioactivity...

why not over the ports and shipping containers?

'US monitored mosques to detect nukes'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1345140.cms