Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Pentagon to deploy huge blimps over Washington, DC for 360-degree surveillance
RT ^ | 07/26/2013 | RT

Posted on 07/26/2013 2:13:50 AM PDT by TexGrill

A pair of high-tech Army blimps is coming to the greater Washington, DC area, and soon they will be able to provide the military with surveillance powers that spans hundreds of millions of acres from North Carolina to Niagara Falls, Canada.

The airships are part of Raytheon’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, and when all is said and done they’ll offer the United States military what the defense contractor calls “an affordable elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system” that relies on “a powerful integrated radar system to detect, track and target a variety of threats.”

Raytheon has just wrapped up a six-week testing period in the state of Utah and is now sending its JLENS fleet to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Once there, the Army intends to get some hands-on experience that will eventually culminate in launching the pair of airships over Washington, DC.

(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: obamapentagon
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 last
To: TexGrill

Government rushing to protect... government.


41 posted on 07/26/2013 5:08:14 AM PDT by theBuckwheat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill

Will there be a Colonel Blimp to run them?


42 posted on 07/26/2013 5:29:30 AM PDT by PUGACHEV
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill

Hey Obama, the year 1916 called. They want their technology back.


43 posted on 07/26/2013 5:37:40 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Justa

ChiCom subs


44 posted on 07/26/2013 5:43:50 AM PDT by Roccus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill

45 posted on 07/26/2013 5:45:24 AM PDT by Lucky9teen (“The only thing worse than a knee-jerk liberal is a knee-pad conservative.” ~ Edward Abbey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill
The question is, why bother putting up a surveillance and fire control radar to find and intercept threats (eg. cruise missiles) if you have no means of intercepting them? Sure, AF planes can scramble and meet inbound aircraft. But cruise missiles? Or are they going to deploy several Patriot batteries around DC now?

Methinks this isn't about using the radar for its stated purpose. This is a persistent surveillance platform that probably has a lot of optics installed too.

46 posted on 07/26/2013 5:56:49 AM PDT by ThunderSleeps (Stop obarma now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill

didn’t we just remove a few blimps from the southern border that were providing southern border surveillance?


47 posted on 07/26/2013 5:57:35 AM PDT by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flick Lives

That was the photo I was looking for.


48 posted on 07/26/2013 5:58:41 AM PDT by DYngbld (I have read the back of the Book and we WIN!!!! (this post approved by the NSA))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Gaffer

There is also a tethered aerostat in the Florida Keys. A couple of years ago a pilot of a light aircraft did not check the Notams before flying and struck one of the tethering cables at about 13000 feet. Makes a person wonder why the government would want two such tethered aerostats above an urban area?


49 posted on 07/26/2013 6:21:25 AM PDT by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill

Since when is the military suppose to “watch” our cities?


50 posted on 07/26/2013 6:25:20 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill

A friend got some of the tether they use on the Mexican border blimps. It is the best tow rope I ever saw. About an inch in diameter rope and you can’t bust it no matter how hard you jerk the stuck vehicle.


51 posted on 07/26/2013 6:29:39 AM PDT by eartrumpet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bert

I saw them outside of Alpine, Texas a couple of weeks ago. We saw it in the sky from miles away. As we passed the station, it looks like the pic in the thread with tether, station and blimp.


52 posted on 07/26/2013 7:41:58 AM PDT by nixonsnose (you never know how much pee splatters until you are standing at the urinal in flip flops.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill
"The airships are part of Raytheon’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, and when all is said and done they’ll offer the United States military what the defense contractor calls “an affordable elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system” that relies on “a powerful integrated radar system to detect, track and target a variety of threats.” "

Starting with Tea Partiers.

53 posted on 07/26/2013 7:44:16 AM PDT by Colonel_Flagg (Army dad. And damned proud.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TexGrill

Are we back in WWII with barrage balloons?


54 posted on 07/26/2013 7:48:37 AM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Justa

Scud on a tub. A freighter or submarine operating off the east coast of the U.S.


55 posted on 07/26/2013 8:34:05 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Doing the same thing and expecting different results is called software engineering.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: eartick

Still have them there.


56 posted on 07/26/2013 10:11:14 AM PDT by Hulka
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: bert

Not so “short range.”

Many cruise missiles fly very long distances.


57 posted on 07/26/2013 10:12:20 AM PDT by Hulka
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Hulka

Last time I was down by La India I did not see the blimp on the tether or on the ground.


58 posted on 07/26/2013 3:10:53 PM PDT by eartick (Been to the line in the sand and liked it)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: eartick

Oh. . .I should have been more clear; a couple of months ago, in May, I was on I-10 in New Mexico and saw a tether and a blimp mile to the south. Mobile perhaps? (This was not a usual advert blimp or a dirigible. . .it was tethered and I estimate over 10,000 feet up.) Maybe different blimp? Maybe new blimp at new location? Testing? Who knows. . .


59 posted on 07/27/2013 6:46:36 AM PDT by Hulka
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson