January 19, 201114 yr Come this fall, there will be a new and extremely powerful supercomputer in Afghanistan. But it won’t be in Dave Petraeus’ headquarters in Kabul or at some three-letter agency’s operations center in Kandahar. It’ll be floating 20,000 feet above the warzone, aboard a giant spy blimp that watches and listens to everything for miles around. That is, if an ambitious, $211 million crash program called “Blue Devil” works out as planned. As of now, the airship’s “freakishly large” hull — seven times the size of the Goodyear Blimp’s — has yet to be put together. Full article: ISR Blimp
January 19, 201114 yr how are they going to stop the hadjis from shooting at the freakishly large blimp?
January 19, 201114 yr how are they going to stop the hadjis from shooting at the freakishly large blimp? floating 20,000 feet above the warzone Although I could see a problem when it needs to land and refuel. Edited January 19, 201114 yr by SurelySerious
January 19, 201114 yr Although I could see a problem when it needs to land and refuel. well i guess it has no IR signature and they probably won't stick it near a mountain top
January 19, 201114 yr ...crash program... Best description ever! From the "Let's put all of our assets up in a balloon," department). Sorry for the negativity FM
January 19, 201114 yr how are they going to stop the hadjis from shooting at the freakishly large blimp? Do the following two words mean anything to you... reflective belt? If it's good enough for us, it's good enough for a blimp!
January 19, 201114 yr So you're saying that the fabled Blimp Folding occupation for the AF is coming to fruition?
January 19, 201114 yr Maybe it will increase the accuracy of the AWACS traffic calls if they know one of their targets is actually stationary.
January 19, 201114 yr Maybe it will increase the accuracy of the AWACS traffic calls if they know one of their targets is actually stationary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KDviXJCfHg We've been waiting for you....
January 19, 201114 yr So how does a blimp not get tossed around like a leaf at 20-30k with 100 knot winds blasting around? I see this thing getting scooted over to Iranian air space and then we will have another EP-3 v China incident on our hand.
January 20, 201114 yr One bimbo with a wool sweater and the whole thing is doomed And yet a surprising amount of storage.
January 20, 201114 yr And yet a surprising amount of storage. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who picked up on that Archer reference. DANGER ZONE!
January 20, 201114 yr Smaller versions of these things are going up all over theater. As usual, Air Force leadership has no long term vision and has completely ignored this program. Flying jets is more fun, got it, but I really wish they would understand that protecting the jet mission means doing less glamorous stuff like UAS and blimps also. The Army found a way to provide continous ISR coverage from the air without us...way to go blue.
January 20, 201114 yr I'm glad I wasn't the only one who picked up on that Archer reference. DANGER ZONE! Dear Airplanes, this is Blimp, you win.
January 20, 201114 yr Dear Airplanes, this is Blimp, you win. i regret that i can only give you one positive vote for this post.
January 20, 201114 yr Dear Airplanes, this is Blimp, you win. "What about helium not being flammable do you not understand?" "Obviously the core concept. I didn't go to space camp." Don't act like it is
January 20, 201114 yr So any person that gets "UAV blimp" during assignment night will be put on a mandatory suicide watch.
January 20, 201114 yr Technically it's a rigid airship 'Ship,' yes. Isn't the Navy supposed to operate these things? I bet they have some "seamen" that would love to operate in a great big phallus... FM Edited January 20, 201114 yr by GrndPndr
January 20, 201114 yr The should add a digital marque like the goodyear one on it that says stuff like "I see you assholes" and "Smile, you're dead" all in arabic
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