Airships May Play Key Homeland Defense Role, Officials Say

American Forces Press Service ^ | March 5, 2005 | By Gerry J. Gilmore

[Calpernia]

The dirigible, or airship, may be employed as a tool to detect potential attacks against the United States, DoD officials told House subcommittee members March 4.

"We believe the best way to protect Americans is to defeat terrorists as far away from our homeland as we can," Air National Guard Maj. Gen. John A. Love said in his prepared testimony before the House Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. Love is a senior officer with U.S. Northern Command, the unified command charged with defending the United States from land, air and sea attack.

Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and National Guard Bureau chief Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum also provided testimony.

While U.S. troops are taking the fight to terrorists in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, Love asserted it's also important "to win the 'home game' by protecting, defending and defeating threats against our nation."

Recent technology demonstrations, Love said, point to the potential use of airships to patrol a 500-mile "buffer zone" established outward from the American coastline.

High-altitude airships, Love continued, could provide "over-the-horizon" surveillance across North America "and out from our coastal waters for air, ground and maritime threats."

Use of airships for homeland defense purposes, McHale explained, is consistent with DoD's charter to provide "the military defense of our nation from attacks that originate from abroad." Testing of prototype dirigibles, he said, demonstrated they "could provide wide area surveillance and communications capabilities."

McHale pointed out DoD's partner role with the Department of Homeland Security in its mission of protecting the nation against, and preparing for, acts of terrorism. DoD, McHale said, stands ready to "provide assets and capabilities in support of civil authorities, consistent with U.S. law."

National Guard Bureau chief Lt. Gen. Blum told House committee members the Guard "is uniquely suited for operational missions inside the U.S. to help protect both the American people and our critical infrastructure."

In fact, there are now 32 certified Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams, the three-star general said, noting, "More are on the way." Blum said each team features 22 Army and Air National Guard specialists trained to detect and identify chemical, biological or radiological hazards, and assist in follow-on activities.

Another initiative involves the reinforcement of WMD civil support teams, Blum noted, with "existing medical, engineer and security forces from either the Air or Army National Guard."

The result, Blum pointed out, is "a more robust capability in response to a WMD incident."

[Calpernia]

Pro Military News!

Use of airships for homeland defense purposes, McHale explained, is consistent with DoD's charter to provide "the military defense of our nation from attacks that originate from abroad." Testing of prototype dirigibles, he said, demonstrated they "could provide wide area surveillance and communications capabilities."

Private Mail to be added to or removed from the GNFI (or Pro-Coalition) ping list.

[umgud]

I didn't see any mention of these airships being deployed on our southern or northern borders. Are we to assume all threats will only come via the oceans?

[maestro]

Yes!!

The U.S.A. needs millions of them!

(and hundreds of NEW Domestic 'gas refineries' too.... for good, cheep, gas....25 cents a gallon!)

Hot air?

:-)

[Grut]

Airships are rediscovered almost as often as passenger trains.

[Paleo Conservative]

[blackie]

Airship our borders!

[cynicom]

This guy is late for the first world war or he is half in the bag.

[JOE43270]

Excellent point.

[frithguild]

McHale pointed out DoD's partner role with the Department of Homeland Security in its mission of protecting the nation against, and preparing for, acts of terrorism. DoD, McHale said, stands ready to "provide assets and capabilities in support of civil authorities, consistent with U.S. law."

Uuuuh...OOOOkaaay!

[RightWhale]

One satellite can do the job of 1000 airships. Airship maintenance won't be cheap, and operations will be expensive. They'll continue prototyping, but there won't ever be any such system.

[Napoleon Solo]

Big deal...we were attacked from within the last time. All the four planes came from our own airspace. Protecting the 500 mile buffer is a great add-on for our defense but we need to stop the threats from within our own borders and get into and break up the sleeper cells which nobody speaks about as if they don't exist.

[SedVictaCatoni]

The Hindenburg crashed because its paint, made of thermite, caught on fire, not because its hydrogen exploded. Those who died were stupid and jumped - those who remained in the gondola survived and walked away.

[Paleo Conservative]

The Hindenburg crashed because its paint, made of thermite, caught on fire,

I think I saw something about that on the History Channel. But once the external fabric caught on fire, it was inevitable that the hydrogen gas bags would also ignite.

[Paleo Conservative]

It would be good if someone could develop safe hydrogen balloons, because hydrogen can lift about twice as much weight. H₂ has a molecular weight of 2 while helium He has a molecular weight of 4. According to the Ideal Gas Law:

PV=nRT

so the same volume occupied hydrogen at a given temperature and pressure is half as dense as helium.

[In_25_words_or_less]

Airships are rediscovered almost as often as passenger trains.

And bring back the Dymaxion car too! =)

[John H K]

One satellite can do the job of 1000 airships.

Nope. People have the mistaken idea that every inch of the globe is covered by recon satellites 24/7. Nothing could be further from the truth, largely because of a lot of bad movies and TV shows with real-time close up "satellite recon" movies all the time.
Actually a given location on earth is lucky if it's in sight of a recon sat for a few minutes twice a day.

[RightWhale]

And 36 satellites gives global coverage, while 36,000 airships would give no coverage because their cost would ground them permanently.

[miele man]

I presume Major General Love is referring to dirigibles similar to the Goodyear or Monster.com blimps. I also presume he is talking about blimps carrying an array of electronic gear and perhaps a minimal human crew.

There have been a series of tethered helium filled balloons on the southern US border for a number of years. They have been, and are, being used to monitor slow flying drug planes. I think they also monitored certain types of radio and other communication traffic. I have seen, up close, one of these balloons near Deming, New Mexico. I understand this particular balloon (called an aerostat)is no longer flying.

Here is a web site that explains the US use of "aerostats".
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/tars.htm

"The aerostat is a large fabric envelope filled with helium. It can rise up to 15,000 feet while tethered by a single cable, which has a maximum breaking strength of 26,000 pounds. For security and safety reasons, the air space around Air Force aerostats is restricted for a radius of at least two statute miles and an altitude up to 15,000 feet. The aerostat network consists of three sizes of aerostats and three varieties of radar. The smallest aerostat is about twice the size of the Goodyear Blimp.

The 275,000 cubic foot, aerodynamically shaped balloon measures 175 feet long by 58 feet across the hull, with a tip-to-tip tail span of 81 feet. The aerostat system lifts a 1,200 pound payload to operating altitude for low-level radar coverage.

The aerostat consists of four major parts or assemblies: the hull, the windscreen and radar platform, the airborne power generator, and the rigging and tether assembly. The hull of the aerostat contains two parts separated by a gas tight fabric partition. The upper chamber is filled with helium and provides the aerostat's lifting capability. The lower chamber of the hull is a pressurized air compartment called a ballonet. A sophisticated subsystem maintains constant pressurization of the ballonet, which maintains the shape of the aerostat's hull at all altitudes. The hull is constructed of a lightweight polyurethane-coated or Tedlar fabric that weighs only eight ounces per yard. The fabric is resistant to environmental degradation, minimizes helium
leakage, and provides structural strength to the aerostat. The windscreen compartment contains the radar and is pressurized by the ballonet. In some aerostats, the airborne power generator consists of an airborne engine control unit that drives the generator, and a 100-gallon fuel tank. Other systems use a power tether. All systems are operated by the aerostats telemetry link to start and stop the engine and its generator. Finally, the rigging consists of the flying suspension likes connected to the main tether and mooring suspension lines.

The Tethered Aerostat Radar System carries the AN/DPS-5 S-band CFAR/MTI and AN/TPS-63 search radars.

The radar data of aerostats is available to the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Customs Service. In addition, this information is available to a blockhouse ground station below, where a flight controller, seated before banks of meters and television screens, monitors the balloon's performance. All radar data is transmitted to the ground station, then digitized and fed to the various control centers for display".
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/tars.htm

[PhilDragoo]

Use of gas bags seen in homeland defense.