Military aerostats to fly over Baltimore

[sellersm]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-23/why-gigantic-war-blimp-about-fly-above-skies-suburban-baltimore

snippet:

One of the most disturbing and relentless trends over the past several years has been the redirection of war technology and equipment from the battlefield abroad toward domestic use in the USA. This has resulted in a militarization of police (http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2013/05/15/the-military-is-now-preparing-to-take-over-for-the-police-across-the-united-states/) across the nation and has encouraged small towns to use Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants to purchase ridiculous items such as tanks. (http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2013/08/12/new-hampshire-city-requests-a-tank-to-deal-with-domestic-terrorist-groups-like-occupy-wall-street-and-libertarians/)Sadly, it appears this trend is only accelerating. With billions of dollars already spent, and failed wars abroad, the military-industrial complex needs to continue to generate cash flow. May as well just use it against the American people.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2014/01/20140122_blimp.png (http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2014/01/20140122_blimp.png)

We find out from the Washington Post that:




They will look like two giant white blimps floating high above I-95 in Maryland, perhaps en route to a football game somewhere along the bustling Eastern Seaboard. But their mission will have nothing to do with sports and everything to do with war.

The aerostats — that is the term for lighter-than-air craft that are tethered to the ground — are to be set aloft on Army-owned land about 45 miles northeast of Washington, near Aberdeen Proving Ground, for a three-year test slated to start in October. From a vantage of 10,000 feet, they will cast a vast radar net from Raleigh, N.C., to Boston and out to Lake Erie, with the goal of detecting cruise missiles or enemy aircraft so they could be intercepted before reaching the capital.

Interesting, I didn’t realize we were at war. When was the last time cruise missiles were shot into the United States?

[Hoser]

Interesting, I didn’t realize we were at war. When was the last time cruise missiles were shot into the United States?

We have been at war since 11 Sept, 2001.

[Sharpienads]

10,000' sounds kinda high for an aerostat. Better throw up a ROZ around that!

[Hoser]

10,000' sounds kinda high for an aerostat. Better throw up a ROZ around that!

Ahhh. Come on. This is the internet, facts have no place here.

[Sharpienads]

I'm no aerostat expert, but I've never heard of one with radar. I'm also not a radar expert, but don't see the advantage of placing a tiny radar on a blimp for detection of missiles and aircraft. Seems like a much larger, more capable radar on the ground would be better than the piddly radar they could put on a blimp.

This one doesn't pass the smell test for me. I'm not saying they aren't using surplus military equipment over Baltimore, but I am saying some of the facts and reasons in this article are BS.

[hollohas]

When I was a kid in southern AZ I would frequently see smaller tethered blimps out my front door...they used them to survey the boarder. That was in the 80's.

[sellersm]

Hoser & Sharpienads: yep, the whole thing 'smells funny' to me. The article quotes from the Washington Post, so what do they know? [Coffee]

[eneranch]

Probably another bright idea by the current Administration

39757

[mtnrider]

I'm no aerostat expert, but I've never heard of one with radar. .

They have Radar. They have actually been on our borders for many years. Lets just say I am somewhat familiar with them. :-)

[Zundfolge]

We have been at war since 11 Sept, 2001.

Actually we have been at war since 623 AD ... most of the time we didn't even realize it.

[spqrzilla]

Last time cruise missiles were shot into the United States? Dunno but I remember some being shot over a stretch of California from the Pacific Missile Test Range from a US submarine.

Meanwhile, I'm just as upset about militarization of LEO as anybody.

But this is just a tethered balloon holding up a radar. Radar. You know, the same thing that sweeps our airspace from big antennas mounted on the ground. And the same thing that sweeps our airspace from AWACS and JSTARS aircraft?

Sheesh.

[mcantar18c]

Looks a lot like something we use in Afghanistan. Those ones have some pretty impressive imaging capabilities... it's scary to think of the implications of that being used in the U.S.

[spqrzilla]

Scary? What image could they obtain from a tethered balloon that they can't get from any of the thousands of cameras on intersection traffic lights or a helo?

[BuffCyclist]

They fly those in the desert near me but it was quite a ways south like they had a view of Juarez/ElPaso, I believe it was US Army, though it could have been White Sands Missile Range. It would be tethered in one spot at about 5-8000 ft for days on end. My premarital counselor said he worked on them in Afghanistan and would lay out the cables. I asked a friend about it once and he pulled up a picture that was the exact blimp (it looks nothing like the ones above).

[TFOGGER]

Last time cruise missiles were shot into the United States? Dunno but I remember some being shot over a stretch of California from the Pacific Missile Test Range from a US submarine.

Meanwhile, I'm just as upset about militarization of LEO as anybody.

But this is just a tethered balloon holding up a radar. Radar. You know, the same thing that sweeps our airspace from big antennas mounted on the ground. And the same thing that sweeps our airspace from AWACS and JSTARS aircraft?

Sheesh.

What if it's ACTUALLY suspending an antenna that broadcasts the mind control waves that the OMGNSANWO is using to control the plebs along the East Coast? Between that, flouride in the water, and chemtrails....http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/images/emoticons//tinfoilhatsmile.gif

[spqrzilla]

http://zapatopi.net/afdb

[Irving]

How many people will drive out to the blimp to check out what they think is the grand opening of a new car dealership?

[sellersm]

How many people will drive out to the blimp to check out what they think is the grand opening of a new car dealership?

[ROFL1]

[merl]

How many people will drive out to the blimp to check out what they think is the grand opening of a new car dealership?

Anyone that does becomes a test target for the newly added interdiction capability.

[waxthis]

Scary? What image could they obtain from a tethered balloon that they can't get from any of the thousands of cameras on intersection traffic lights or a helo?

Perhaps the show "Person Of Interest" is real?

[mcantar18c]

Scary? What image could they obtain from a tethered balloon that they can't get from any of the thousands of cameras on intersection traffic lights or a helo?

Just suffice it to say that a traffic camera doesn't quite have the same imaging capabilities of a multi-million dollar ISR balloon.

[spqrzilla]

Just suffice it to say that a traffic camera doesn't quite have the same imaging capabilities of a multi-million dollar ISR balloon.

Really? The f***ing redlight camera gets an adequate image of my face.

[mcantar18c]

Really? The f***ing redlight camera gets an adequate image of my face.

And the smaller version of these balloons that I have first-hand experience with can get in close enough to see the species of fly on an Afghans beard from over a few hundred meters away. Not to mention the low- and no-light imaging capabilities

[Scanker19]

It's okay, They'll only catch people smoking on their vehicles…….

[Ridge]

I don't buy their argument for this. The US isn't worried about cruise missiles or enemy jet fighter incursions, especially along the Eastern Seaboard. If this is the real plan for it, then they are living in the Cold War. It's a ridiculous waste of money to spend on these programs designed to face threats we haven't seen in 2 and a half decades.

Our enemies are terrorists now, and they don't have an air force or an ICBM setup. They plant car bombs or hijack civilian planes. These blimps will do nothing to stop that. Hell, I'll fly a biplane up there and punch some holes in them if they want to go back to the day that blimps were useful on the battlefield.

[mtnrider]

I don't buy their argument for this. The US isn't worried about cruise missiles or enemy jet fighter incursions, especially along the Eastern Seaboard. If this is the real plan for it, then they are living in the Cold War. It's a ridiculous waste of money to spend on these programs designed to face threats we haven't seen in 2 and a half decades.

Our enemies are terrorists now, and they don't have an air force or an ICBM setup. They plant car bombs or hijack civilian planes. These blimps will do nothing to stop that. Hell, I'll fly a biplane up there and punch some holes in them if they want to go back to the day that blimps were useful on the battlefield.

I couldn't agree more. Most of these aerostats were originally used on our southern borders as a over the horizon, look down radar for low flying aircraft. Defense and probably more so to stop low flying drug aircraft. Since drugs are okay now no real need any more. Complete waste of tax dollars.

[sellersm]

Perhaps Thomas Pynchon was onto something in his book Gravity's Rainbow?