Blimps to patrol US borders for enemy missiles

http://www.smh.com.au ^ | October 1, 2003 - 10:49AM

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Blimps to patrol US borders for enemy missiles

October 1, 2003 - 10:49AM

The Pentagon has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. a $US40 million ($58.95 million) contract to develop a high-flying, remote-controlled blimp that would monitor US borders and scan the horizon for enemy missiles.

The idea is to supplement radar and satellites. The helium-filled dirigibles - about 25 times larger than those seen at sporting events - could also be used to monitor combat zones overseas.

They would patrol at an altitude of 19.5 kilometres, and be powered by the sun.

"It's another mix in the multilayered defence sensors," Christopher Taylor, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency, said today. The goal is to have a prototype ready to fly in 2006. The contract includes a $US50 million ($73.69 million) option to build one.

The agency will direct the design and construction of the prototype in Akron, Ohio, by Lockheed on behalf of the Department of Defence, the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) and the Army.

Blimps can peer down into valleys missed by surface radar and, unlike satellites, their surveillance isn't limited by the earth's rotation. They can be aloft for months at a time and, unlike satellites, can land for equipment changes or maintenance.
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Depending on tests, the Pentagon would order an undetermined number of the blimps, Taylor said. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes border patrols, also will consider ordering blimps, he said.

Last year, NORAD proposed stationing 10 ships to cover America's borders. The Coast Guard and customs agents already use radar on low-altitude tethered balloons to scan for drug smugglers. The Navy discontinued its blimp program in 1962.

Akron's Lockheed Martin Airdock, where the blimp is to be developed about 48 kms south of Cleveland, was once the site of mass production of US Navy surveillance airships during World War II.

The prototype will be about 150 metres long, 48 metres in diameter and have a volume of 5.2 million cubic feet. A typical commercial blimp is about 60 metres long and 21 metres in diameter.

[Army Air Corps]

These are essentially the same as the Hi-Spot programme proposed in the 1980s. Since these are large and unmanned, you can place quite a bit of hardware on these airships. A pair of M2Hs or twin Oerlikon 20mm auto-cannon would be nice.

[Tactical]

We've already had this blimp hard at work in the Yuma area for years. It flies tethered at The US Army Yuma Proving Grounds 20 miles out of Yuma. You can see it flying high in the air 30 miles away or more.

The borders around here are infamous for smugglers using light aircraft to bring in passengers and drugs, landing in secluded desert dirt airstrips.

Don't worry the info is passed to all the local Feds.

[dufekin]

That would violate the rules of the border patrol, which are as follows:

1. In no case whatsoever shall more than one border patrol office be stationed on any given mile of border, on average. A single border-patrol officer may be assigned a segment of border as long as several hundred miles.

2. Border patrol officers shall not be permitted to use any surveillance equipment--not even flashlights or prescription eyeglasses--beyond that with which they are biologically equipped. Nor may they use any communications equipment.

3. Border patrol officers may not use guns or any other weapons, nor may they physically restrain border crossers.

4. Border patrol officers shall not be permitted any animal companions or mechanized vehicles. This ban includes motor vehicles, jeeps, sport utility vehicles, rovers, cop cars, bicycles, dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, and camels.

5. Should a border patrol officer detect a border crosser, the officer may ask the crosser his or her citizenship. All American citizens (determined through verbal declaration) must be permitted to cross the border unmolested, although they may be asked politely to go through customs at the earliest convenience.

6. If the citizenship of a border crosser cannot be ascertained, whether by silence or because of a linguistic barrier, American citizenship must be assumed.

7. The sole, exclusive, and complete remedy for Mexican illegal immigrants is to escort them 100 yards on the Mexican side of the border and respectfully request that they refrain from further crossing.

8. The sole, exclusive, and complete remedy for any non-Mexican illegal immigrant is to respectfully request that they attend a voluntary hearing to determine their status at a federal courthouse corresponding to the appropriate section of border. There shall be no consequences for failure to appear in court.

9. Border patrol is responsible for the physical and mental wellbeing of all crossers, regardless of legality, and for ensuring their protection against heat, thirst, hunger, cold, snow, exposure, rattlesnakes, and any other maladies that may infect them. Officers must render any and all necessary medical care at their own private expense, and shall presume that all crossers needing medical care are legal. The officer bears personal responsibility for the welfare of crossers throughout his or her entire zone, whether or not they may be detected.

10. If a suspected illegal border crosser gets more than 100 yards within America, the Border Patrol may not pursue and may not report the person to any other agency or authority. The officer shall keep this information in confidence for a minimum of seven days before officer may reveal it on any paperwork.

11. Border Patrol should avoid notorious criminals and drug-runners. They are free to operate at large in California with impunity.

I think I got all that. Remember, the Border Patrol misses millions of people every year! They can't keep that record if they got good technology to keep the border secure from illegal immigrants, terrorists, and everyone else who wants to cross. And we don't want to listen to the whining that secure borders would generate.

[KC_for_Freedom]

With IR and SAR, they will doubtless be capable of detecting illegal aliens as well as missiles, but you have to pay Lockheed for both systems.

[dufekin]

NOTE: MY LAST POST (#23) IS ACTUALLY A JOKE. But I'm sure that it bears some close resemblance to reality: the bureaucratic rules that restrain the Border Patrol.

And this might be the Pentagon's plan to usurp the Border Patrol responsibility. Plus, these blimps would help immensely in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

[TheLion]

"There is a greater threat to this nation from illegals crossing from Mexcio than from Mexican missles."

You got it....close the damn borders!

[GOPJ]

Come on, a blimp spotting a missile could give us at least a one-second warning. Well, maybe not that much, but close... Also, don't we already have military blimps?

but thats the dumbest headline I can imagine. How about 'US to deploy trained frogs to study UFO's'.

[GeronL]

Yes we have military blimps.

They are manned by dolphins and are used to broadcast TV and radio propaganda to our mortal enemy of Cuba. We are preparing to invade Cuba, as we have been for 35 years, and we will use a fleet of unmanned blimps to carry our soldiers.

"If they are unmanned, how do they carry soldiers?"

Female soldiers, duh!

Cuba shall be swamped in a sea .. a tidal flow of estrogen, the likes of which this world has never seen before or will again.

The Mighty Cuban Empire shall fall!!!!

bwahahahaahahhahahaha

and these blimps are the ultimate weapon toward that goal.

[Choose Ye This Day]

[OneTimeLurker]

Big time. All you need to do is follow the money with this one.

[endthematrix]

[jamaksin]

Blimps ... a gas bag ... no rigid structural members.

Dirigible ... several gas cells ... beacoup rigid structural members.

US Navy ... Blimps - many; Dirigibles - few (USS MACON, ... USS LOS ANGELES (the last - she was scraped).

[Army Air Corps]

According to most definitions, the words are distinguished as follows:

Dirigible: manoeuverable lighter-than-air craft; steerable airship.
Blimp: non-rigid dirigible.
Zeppelin: Rigid dirigible. Also acceptable to use the term Rigid Airship.

Supporting sources: The National Air and Space Museum, Graf Zeppelin & Hindenburg:The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships, Dictionary of Aviation, etc...

[jamaksin]

Also see:

Airshipwreck, Len Deighton and Arnold Schwartzman Jonathan Cape Limited, 30 Bedford Square, London, WC1 ISBN 0-224-01384-X, First Published 1978

United States Naval Air Station Lakehurst, NJ "The Hindenburg Memorial"

Distinction is made ... rigid versus non-rigid in both above.

Regarding "manoeuverable" ... FAA rules on "right-of-way" ... ballons highest as it is ain't got none! At the mercy of the winds ... of course ballast helps.