Runaway Spy Blimp

[sm625]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/28/politics/loose-blimp-norad-east-coast/

This runaway spy blimp dragged a 1.125" cable along the ground for miles, knocking out power for 18000 people. Is there really going to be zero outrage over this? What exactly would it take to make people wake up? This thing could have ripped across a major road, causing accidents and perhaps even killing people. For what? I do not understand why people tolerate this crap. It is bad enough that your tax dollars are used to spy on you. But to have your power knocked out in the name of a police state? Or to potentially be killed or have to watch someone be killed right in front of you by two tons of wire ripping across the countryside? For what? Please tell me how this blimp is making you safe and helping you sleep at night.

 

[Screech]

The part I found infuriating is the discussion on the flammability of helium. Wtf, does nobody there know the difference between hydrogen and helium?

 

[Nebor]

The JLENS is not a "spy blimp" like a PTDS (Persistent Threat Detection System.) It doesn't even have cameras. It has a series of sophisticated radars and sensors used for "beyond horizon" visibility on missile strikes against the east coast. It really does help to keep people safe. Take your outrage elsewhere.

 

[Jhhnn]

The JLENS is not a "spy blimp" like a PTDS (Persistent Threat Detection System.) It doesn't even have cameras. It has a series of sophisticated radars and sensors used for "beyond horizon" visibility on missile strikes against the east coast. It really does help to keep people safe. Take your outrage elsewhere.

I'm not sure it really keeps people safe but it's deployed for that purpose, there if we need it.

Or maybe it's part of the massive Jade Helm conspiracy to beam secret propaganda into people's heads with subliminal messages injected into their cellphone conversations, a plot obviously dreamed up in Benghazi.

Let's get Gowdy's committee on it right away so we can get to the bottom of it!

 

[Nebor]

I'm not sure it really keeps people safe but it's deployed for that purpose, there if we need it.

Or maybe it's part of the massive Jade Helm conspiracy to beam secret propaganda into people's heads with subliminal messages injected into their cellphone conversations, a plot obviously dreamed up in Benghazi.

Let's get Gowdy's committee on it right away so we can get to the bottom of it!

Without the JLENS the US Navy would have leveled Baltimore with cruise missiles by now.

 

[Brian Stirling]

The idea behind this makes sense and if properly implemented it could offer much greater coverage of the east coast. Ground based radars, unless they are very low frequency, are going to be limited by the curvature of the earth and the range limited accordingly. Additionally, as you get further away from the radar the radar simply can't see low flying objects because of the earths curvature and as you get further away the height the radar can't see get's higher and higher.

So, put a radar much higher such that it can see all the way to the ground for hundreds of mile and do so at high enough frequencies to not only see but pinpoint and you can dramatically improve radar coverage.

Not sure how a single blimp could be anywhere near $200M though -- that can't be right...


Brian

 

[Bitek]

Seems like a giant waste of money. Who's firing missiles at the east coast?

Yeah, the idea is sound, but never saying no is how the military budget is so bloated. I'm sure we could lose it and make out OK.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Well if the cost quotes are accurate then I'd agree the system doesn't make sense, but the idea of a much more effective radar system capable of detecting, at long range, even low flying things like drones or cruise missiles, isn't a bad idea to me.

Do you think we should stop spending on early warning radar and for that matter all defensive radar systems? It would be nice if we lived in a world without threats and enemies, but we don't!


Brian

 

[Bitek]

I'm sure PA residents would rather have the govt repairing some of the structurally deficient bridges and closed roads than spending $2.7B on a blimp who's most notable accomplishment is further destroying their infrastructure.

 

[OutHouse]

I'm sure PA residents would rather have the govt repairing some of the structurally deficient bridges and closed roads than spending $2.7B on a blimp who's most notable accomplishment is further destroying their infrastructure.

damaging powerlines = destroying infrastructure?

LOOK OUT!!! THAT BLIMP IS ON A RAMPAGE!!!! IT TOOK OUT THE POWER. THE SEWERS AND BRIDGES ARE NEXT!

 

[OutHouse]

im more concerned about them floating it 10K feet over washington on a tether. talk about a arial hazard even with a NOTAM

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Spy Blimp? Paranoia is runaway and rampant in P&N.

But what else is new?

 

[Nebor]

Not sure how a single blimp could be anywhere near $200M though -- that can't be right...


Brian

The non-radar versions cost around $20M. They get destroyed fairly frequently in Afghanistan.

 

[MongGrel]

Seems like a giant waste of money. Who's firing missiles at the east coast?

Yeah, the idea is sound, but never saying no is how the military budget is so bloated. I'm sure we could lose it and make out OK.

I'm sure PA residents would rather have the govt repairing some of the structurally deficient bridges and closed roads than spending $2.7B on a blimp who's most notable accomplishment is further destroying their infrastructure.

Pretty much all of this, I thought we had enough satellites monitoring things myself all ready.

 

[John Connor]

Oh fer fuck sake. For a moment there after reading the little I thought it was about Hitlery.

 

[Indus]

According to ABC News, the blimp cost $175 million and the program has a total cost of 2-3 billion.

The Pentagon desperately has been saying it doesn't want or need this program but the Congress says yes we do.

As usual conservaterrorist congressmen prioritizing defense spending for their donors over the American People.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

According to ABC News, the blimp cost $175 million and the program has a total cost of 2-3 billion.

The Pentagon desperately has been saying it doesn't want or need this program but the Congress says yes we do.

As usual conservaterrorist congressmen prioritizing defense spending for their donors over the American People.

BTW: its failed or underperformed in nearly every test. I believe it was taken down with about 100 shotgun rounds by the Police on a hill

 

[Jhhnn]

BTW: its failed or underperformed in nearly every test. I believe it was taken down with about 100 shotgun rounds by the Police on a hill

Well, it would have had to drift a lot lower than its purported 16,000 ft cruising altitude for that to happen.

 

[crashtech]

Ugh, couldn't watch after the assertion that helium "has a flammable quality to it."

 

[sportage]

If its up in the air and over your head, its a spy blimp.
Probably to spy on people buying guns.
Or spying through your window to make sure you're watching Fox News.

Wasn't it Huckabee from the debate that made that little slam concerning the blimp, claiming the blimp was some runaway government program gone amuck?
Actually Mike, its a military program gone amuck.
So republicans no longer LOVE the military despite how much it spends and what it spends tax money on?
THIS is news....

 

[Sonikku]

Seems like a giant waste of money. Who's firing missiles at the east coast?

Why... the... Terrorists! :hmm:

Send more money to the defense budget NOW!

 

[unokitty]

... after 17 years of research and $2.7 billion spent by the Pentagon, the system known as JLENS doesn't work as envisioned. The 240-foot-long, milk-white blimps, visible for miles around, have been hobbled by defective software, vulnerability to bad weather and poor reliability.

In tests, JLENS has struggled to track flying objects and to distinguish friendly aircraft from threatening ones.

The Pentagon's Operational Test and Evaluation office faulted the system in 2012 in four "critical performance areas" and rated its reliability as "poor." A year later, in its most recent assessment, the agency again cited serious deficiencies and said JLENS had "low system reliability."

Despite the system's documented shortcomings, Raytheon and other backers of JLENS have marshaled support in Congress and at the highest levels of the military to keep taxpayer money flowing to the program...

Army leaders tried to kill JLENS in 2010. What happened next ...

Raytheon mobilized its congressional lobbyists. Within the Pentagon, Marine Corps Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright, then vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came to JLENS' defense, arguing that it held promise for enhancing the nation's air defenses.

At Cartwright's urging, money was found in 2011 for a trial run of the technology in the skies above Washington.

Cartwright retired the same year — and joined Raytheon's board of directors five months later. By the end of 2014, Raytheon had paid him more than $828,000 in cash and stock for serving as a director...

At the insistence of Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, then the Army's vice chief of staff, officials canceled plans to buy the full complement of 28 blimps and prepared to kill the program...

"I tried to kill it," Chiarelli, now retired, said in an interview. "I did not see JLENS as an effective RAM counter-surveillance. I wanted somebody to realize that what was killing our soldiers was RAM and not cruise missiles."

Raytheon sent into action a team of lobbyists that included former Sens. Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, and John Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat.

It may have cost taxpayers $2.7 billion dollars. But it has helped make retired Marine Corps Gen Cartwright $828,000 dollars. It has also helped retired politicians, both Republican and Democratic, who now work as lobbyists make money.

Of course, Raytheon has profited handsomely.

I'm sure they will return the favor by contributing to current political campaigns... After all, look how generous they were in 2014:

CONTRIBUTIONS
$3,493,493

LOBBYING
$6,290,000 (2014)
$7,650,000 (2013)

53 out of 67 Raytheon Co lobbyists in 2013-2014 have previously held government jobs

While you're welcome to think that that $2.7 billion dollars might have been better spent on schools, social welfare programs, or infrastructure, without programs like the failed blimp program what would retired military officers and former politicians do for spending money?

So just STFU and pay your taxes citizen. Your politicians need political contributions from Defense Contractors like Raytheon...

Uno

 

[Nebor]

While you're welcome to think that that $2.7 billion dollars might have been better spent on schools, social welfare programs, or infrastructure, without programs like the failed blimp program what would retired military officers and former politicians do for spending money?

So just STFU and pay your taxes citizen. Your politicians need political contributions from Defense Contractors like Raytheon...

Uno

So you want retired generals to be living on the streets eh?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Well, it would have had to drift a lot lower than its purported 16,000 ft cruising altitude for that to happen.

You're right it got caught up on something sank closer to the ground. Shotguns were used.

 

[MongGrel]

Thread needs more Space Blimps and stuff.