WANTED: Massive $2.7B Surveillance Blimp Adrift Over Pennsylvania

[Capt. Obvious]

A massive Pentagon surveillance blimp broke free from its tether in Aberdeen, Maryland, outside of Washington, Wednesday. The $2.7 billion blimp -- technically an "aerostat" in the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) program -- is floating somewhere above Pennsylvania, The Baltimore Sun reported.

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Oh the humanity!

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

1. Raytheon has scrambled a squadron of lawyers

[panader0]

2. There's one of those near where I live--"Fat Albert"

The cost, not only of the blimp, but of the ground facilities, was huge. It is brought down in stormy or
windy weather. Once, several years ago, while it was down, dust devil debris punctured it in several places.
I heard it had to be shipped back east (I'm in Az) for repairs. After all the tax money spent, I believe
it has been credited with ONE drug bust.

[LanternWaste]

3. Is that the only thing its used for

"I believe it has been credited with ONE drug bust..."

Is that the only thing its used for, or does it have additional purposes?

[panader0]

4. Well, as the OP stated, it's supposedly for defense.

Against Mexico I guess. The blimps, when they are up, are within sight or radar range from
each other, all long the US/Mexico border. Pretty useless IMO. Oh yeah, and ugly too.

[sarisataka]

5. Lost blimp-reward

""

[Rex]

6. Oh sure it just 'wandered' off on it's own.

dun Dun DUN!!!!

[DavidDvorkin]

7. That's 2.7 billion of our dollars.

[Octafish]

8. $2.7 Billion for a ...a...a Blimp?

http://firesigntheatre.com/media/media.php?item=htf

Gee. Mr. Motion really is in the right business.

[EX500rider]

9. Didn't cost anywhere near that much...that might be the entire program cost or something...

Unit cost $175 million (avg unit cost)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JLENS

[Octafish]

11. Thanks! Blimps at $175 million per are a bargain.

Like surveilling the Homeland, price is no object when surveilling the horizon a la AWACs, an important if not vital component of keeping Communists Terrorists Saddam Al Qaeda Saddam Al Qaeda Russia ISIS China and Russia at bay. Plus look at all the jobs I mean profits.

[EX500rider]

12. I imagine the X-band radars and assorted electronics are most of the cost.

Each aerostat utilizes a different radar system—one has a VHF-band surveillance radar and the other an X-band fire-control radar. JLENS is designed to provide 24/7, 360-degree coverage extending 340 miles (300 nmi; 550 km), an area roughly equal to the size of Texas; the surveillance radar scans in all directions to pick up targets, then the targeting radar looks only in a certain segment to guide weapons to it. Its detection capability seeks to equal to 4-5 fixed-wing aircraft, and is designed to operate at 15-20 percent of the cost of fixed-wing aircraft

[lpbk2713]

16. I'm not fluent in Pentagonese.

I have to wonder if that would be 15-20 per cent of F-16 cost or F-35 cost?

Two distinctly different ball park variables.

[trof]

13. $175 million for a fucking BALOON?

whew

[EX500rider]

17. I imagine the blimp is the cheapest part..

The system has four primary components: two tethered aerostats which utilize a helium/air mix, armored mooring stations, sophisticated radars, and a processing station designed to communicate with anti-missile and other ground and airborne systems.

[octoberlib]

10. Military Blimp's Rampage Deflates Raytheon's Hopes to Sell More

The giant airship — 80 yards long and about the size of three Goodyear blimps — was one of a pair that represented the last gasp of an 18-year, $2.7 billion-dollar program called JLENS or “Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System.”

There were once supposed to be 36 of them, their high-resolution 360-degree radar coverage up to 340 miles in any direction protecting the nation from cruise missiles.

But costs inflated, doubts about their utility mounted, and the program was scaled back and almost killed.


Finally, the Army agreed to launch two of them, for a three-year test. They were hovering at a height of 10,000 feet just off Interstate 95, about 45 miles northeast of Washington, D.C., and about 20 miles from Baltimore. In theory, they could track moving objects from North Carolina to Boston, or an area the size of Texas. With only two in the air, they effectively cost about $1.4 billion each — a lot, even by advanced weapons standards.


https://theintercept.com/2015/10/28/military-blimps-rampage-deflates-raytheons-hopes-to-sell-more/

[Whiskeytide]

14. I did not know blimps were a part of our...

... homeland security system. I can see the pentagon's presser now... "Honest, we had no idea the Chinese army was equipped with pellet guns"!!

[Orrex]

15. IT'S NOT A BALLOON! IT'S AN AIR-SHIP! AN AIR-SHIP!

And I'm sure that it will all blow over.

[DirkGently]

18. It's been "contained."

The military surveillance blimp that broke free of its mooring at Aberdeen Proving Ground Wednesday morning has returned to Earth after a four-hour, 160-mile, power line-snapping odyssey, authorities said.

NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said the runaway aircraft was on the ground near Moreland Township, Pa. — 160 miles north of its mooring in Edgewood — and was deflating. The blimp had slowly been losing helium, he said, and appears to have drifted to the ground.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Angela Bieber said the balloon was "contained."

"It is no longer moving," she said.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aberdeen-havre-de-grace/bs-md-jlens-blimp-loose-20151028-story.html