Posted on 12/03/2004 11:52:11 PM PST by iso
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The lumbering, low-tech observation balloon, first used on Civil War battlefields, is making a comeback in Iraq (news - web sites). But this time around it's packed with zoom-lens video cameras and thermal imagers.
AP Photo
The unmanned craft — which look like smaller versions of the Goodyear blimp — monitor battle zones and other danger spots. They're also used to detect possible ambushes on roads used by multinational forces.
On a recent evening in Baghdad, three balloons floated over the Green Zone that houses Iraq's interim government, as well as the U.S. and other foreign missions in central Baghdad.
They have also been seen circling dangerous highways leading to Baghdad International Airport, where car-bomb attacks against U.S. troops have become a daily occurrence. And during last month's U.S.-led offensive against the rebel-held city of Fallujah, a balloon hovered constantly over the battlefield.
"They are on a tether and can be relatively easily moved to any area required," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Jay Antonelli said.
While the gleaming white balloons are hard to ignore, Antonelli was reluctant to discuss all they can do. "I cannot disclose their capabilities for force protection reasons," he said.
The balloons' payload typically consist of an array of high-tech sensors, including a video camera with a zoom lens, a thermal imager or a laser range finder, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. The devices mainly look for muzzle flashes from small arms or mortars or try to spot suspicious movements by potential attackers.
While the balloons might appear to be easy targets themselves, they are more likely to survive hostile fire than fixed wing drones.
Unlike World War I balloons — which were filled with highly flammable hydrogen — today's craft contain helium, an inert gas that doesn't burn. That means ground fire only causes slow leaks and a very gradual loss of buoyancy.
Observation balloons were first used during the Civil War, when the Union and Confederate armies sent officers up in wicker baskets to direct artillery fire at opposing troops.
Their usage by artillery spotters peaked during the trench warfare on the western front in World War I, but the balloons largely faded from use soon after due to the ascendancy of fixed-wing biplanes, though some remained in service for several more decades.
Tethered air-defense balloons hovered over London in World War II to prevent low-level attacks by Nazi aircraft, while the Japanese army released thousands of balloons armed with firebombs in the hope that the jet stream would carry them to the U.S. and Canada. The campaign was largely ineffective.
The U.S. Navy (news - web sites) withdrew its last blimps from service in 1962 after years of using them for ocean patrols.
During the last decade, however, robotic spy balloons equipped with high-tech optics systems began to reappear. They primarily have been used by the Israelis to track the movements of militants and by the U.S. Border Patrol to monitor illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border.
Surveillance balloons, also known as aerostats, were introduced into U.S. service in Iraq earlier this year, after it became clear they had inherent advantages over the unmanned drones that provided battlefield intelligence during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2002.
Front lines change quickly or don't exist at all in the battle with insurgents, who appear in order to fire mortar shells or plant explosives before melting into the background.
Balloons can loiter over a military base or likely ambush site to discourage such strikes. Or they might accompany foot and vehicle patrols, spotting potential targets from several miles away.
ping
A US military observation balloon flies over Baghdad Friday Dec. 3 2004. Observation balloons, whose US military debut dates back to the American Civil War almost 150 years ago, are now making a comeback amid the high-tech U.S. military gagged in Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/Susan Frantic)
They give WW1 historical background, but no mention they ring the US southern border?
It seemed obvious to me that something like this, carrying a Predator-style sensor platform, would have an intrinsic advantage in loiter time and bullet resistance. But the article says they are tethered. I see no reason they could not be powered, remote-controlled blimps, able to move to and keep station anywhere at will. And why not an armament package of their own?... say a stick of Hellfires and some kind of .50 cal sniping turret.
You are right , them deployed to US southern border .
U.S. ARMY TO DEPLOY LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSTAT SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS IN IRAQ
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=14433&rsbci=0&fti=111&ti=0&sc=400
They do have untethered variants. I haven't seem any armed, but theoreticly they could be, if the balloon is protected from the rocket engines. As for .50 or any precise aiming, I think thats out. Those things are not steady in the slighted wind. The tether is fine. The range is long and you don't need a wireless link! If it "sees something" it relays the position in real time to a FOB and artilery takes care of it, end of story.
Thanks
:-)
Hmm...to listen to some, I thought we were doing absolutely nothing to secure the southern border.
Unfortunately the tethered aerostats along the southern border are for drug interdiction. They are not used to detect and stop illegal entry by ground transport. See the data below from FAS:
Tethered Aerostat Radar System
The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is a balloon-borne radar. The primary aerostat mission is to provide radar data in support of other federal agencies involved in the nation's drug interdiction program. One aerostat, located at Cudjoe Key, Fla., transmits TV Marti, which sends American television signals into Cuba for the U.S. Information Agency. The air drug interdiction program consists of land-based aerostat radar detection ballons along the U.S. southern border and in the Carribbean, and a series of airborne surveillance assets such as P-3 AEW, interceptor aircraft, and apprehension helicopters. The purpose is to seal off the border to illegal drugs coming in by aircraft. The program has been expanded to interdict the narcotic flow before it gets to the U.S. border.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.