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Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights
LA Times ^ | 13 Mar 2009 | Julian E. Barnes

Posted on 03/13/2009 12:30:19 PM PDT by BGHater

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1 posted on 03/13/2009 12:30:19 PM PDT by BGHater
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To: BGHater

Travel anywhere in the world in 15 days...man, that this is hauling you-know-what!


2 posted on 03/13/2009 12:32:13 PM PDT by DonaldC
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To: BGHater; tx_eggman

Something tells me that the military is planning ops in the post-satellite era. I have a bad feeling about what may soon go down up in space.


3 posted on 03/13/2009 12:34:32 PM PDT by SpinnerWebb (mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves)
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To: BGHater

Won’t OBozo’s defense speding cuts nip this in the bud?


4 posted on 03/13/2009 12:36:11 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: BGHater

65,000 feet. Isn’t that within range of SAM’s? How long do they think it would survive?


5 posted on 03/13/2009 12:36:12 PM PDT by txnativegop (God Bless America! (NRA-Endowment))
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To: SpinnerWebb

Maybe, but satellites don’t “hover”.
Even geosyncronous orbits are rarely where you need them.


6 posted on 03/13/2009 12:36:50 PM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: BGHater

Won’t OBozo’s defense spending cuts nip this in the bud?


7 posted on 03/13/2009 12:36:50 PM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: BGHater

I think Popular Science Magazine features this idea about once every three years.

Maybe it will fly this time ;-)


8 posted on 03/13/2009 12:37:02 PM PDT by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitur)
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To: BGHater

there’s got to be plenty of ways to shoot something like this down, but of course if you’re spying on the US, chances are we won’t own any of of ‘em!


9 posted on 03/13/2009 12:37:10 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: Blueflag

LOL! I can remember seeing it in there a dozen times or more.


10 posted on 03/13/2009 12:38:34 PM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (Want to make a conservative angry? Lie to him. Want to make a liberal angry? Tell him the truth)
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To: BGHater
Original story from 2006
11 posted on 03/13/2009 12:40:33 PM PDT by pabianice
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To: BGHater

Dirigibles..Zepplins..making a comeback?

You know..I sometimes thought that particular concept of aviation got a bad rap after the Hindenberg...weren’t there a few shows on Discovery and elsewhere that put the blame on the German airship’s aluminized paint..rather than the hydrogen..for its spectacular & catastrophic failure?

With the possibility of higher fuel costs in the near future..maybe lighter than airships will be making a big comeback down the road in a few decades.....


12 posted on 03/13/2009 12:40:36 PM PDT by Dixiekraut (( Rommell...you magnificent bastard . I READ YOUR BOOK !!! ))
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To: SJSAMPLE

Easily solved by numbers. I would imagine a fleet of these things being less than the cost to launch 1 observation satellite.


13 posted on 03/13/2009 12:41:07 PM PDT by SpinnerWebb (mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves)
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To: BGHater
“It is absolutely revolutionary,” Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force, said of the proposed unmanned airship — “

What is revolutionary is that one of these ideas is dusted off and is recycled again every 5 or so years. The blimp is always touted as the way to solve the latest problem or provide a new solution that something else cheaper can do anyway.

But not before several million is spent for the “feasibility” study w/ 1/6th scale model.

14 posted on 03/13/2009 12:41:25 PM PDT by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and HAVE DOOMED us for a generation or more.)
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To: BGHater
Why am I concerned that this is principally geared for domestic surveillance? I just can't see this thing being practical in areas where the US may not have air superiority so I'm left to wonder if it will be used in the USA?
15 posted on 03/13/2009 12:41:44 PM PDT by MeganC (January 20, 2013)
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To: BGHater

Wouldn’t it be mighty easy to shoot down something this big?


16 posted on 03/13/2009 12:41:45 PM PDT by RexBeach ("Do your duty in all things." Robert E. Lee)
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To: DonaldC
Travel anywhere in the world in 15 days...man, that this is hauling you-know-what!

Considering you would only have to travel (at most 1/2 way around the world) - - - - the blimp would only have to travel at 35MPH. The is regardless whether it is on its own power or 'being transported' to the site.

17 posted on 03/13/2009 12:42:11 PM PDT by Freeper
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To: AngelesCrestHighway
Won’t OBozo’s defense spending cuts nip this in the bud?

No problem. It has solar cells so it will be built by people with green-collar jobs.

18 posted on 03/13/2009 12:43:33 PM PDT by newheart (Obama. We kind of underestimated the creepiness.)
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To: txnativegop
65,000 feet. Isn’t that within range of SAM’s?

I guess that depends on who they are watching? I mean, will it be over the Middle East, or Michigan?

19 posted on 03/13/2009 12:44:26 PM PDT by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll)
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To: MeganC

Megan, you might be right - we have google (military version) and we have keyhole (military version) where we can see the freckles on one’s face - so why now have a blimp? seems like it’s going backward in technology to me


20 posted on 03/13/2009 12:45:04 PM PDT by blueplum
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