Giant Spy Blimp Battle

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sublight

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...Could Decide Surveillance’s Future

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/spy-blimp-battle/

"How many giant experimental spy blimps does the military need over Afghanistan, exactly?
That’s one of many questions the Senate Armed Services Committee is asking after an intramilitary battle has erupted over what many expect to be the future of aerial surveillance. The Army and the Air Force each have their own football field-sized airships in the works; the Senate panel wants to know why it should pay for both — especially as the Air Force seems fickle about its model and keeps changing the spy sensors on board. Legislators are asking: What gives?"
 
And what's a "behemoth", anyway?

I've never seen a behecaterpillar, nor do I want to.
 
LowObservable said:
And what's a "behemoth", anyway?

I've never seen a behecaterpillar, nor do I want to.
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You don't know what a behemoth is?! There once was a De Havilland biplane flying across the East African plains, and when a Masai chief, who had never seen an aircraft before, heard it come, he reportedly said: "Be he Moth?" And so it stuck...

(actually not.)
 
Lets all be thankful that in wired.com's blimp adjective overload: "giant", "experimental", "spy", "football-field sized", etc they did not use: "stealth"...

Ironically the use of Behemoth to describe something big and out of control outside of the Bible was because of Hobbes's use of the word to describe the Long Parliament of the English Civil War. So kind of appropiate that it has arrisen here in the context of the US Congress.
 
Abraham Gubler said:
Lets all be thankful that in wired.com's blimp adjective overload: "giant", "experimental", "spy", "football-field sized", etc they did not use: "stealth"...

Ironically the use of Behemoth to describe something big and out of control outside of the Bible was because of Hobbes's use of the word to describe the Long Parliament of the English Civil War. So kind of appropiate that it has arrisen here in the context of the US Congress.
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Absolutely, because then you'd have really had yourself a proper meltdown! :)
 
sublight said:
Absolutely, because then you'd have really had yourself a proper meltdown! :)
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No we'd just continue what we've been doing to date on the topic of 'stealth blimps': having a good laugh. Its at someone's expense too...
 
so how exactly will you conduct spying if what you're observing is *aware* of your presence? ???
 
Some of the platforms are intended for stand-off SIGINT/ELINT purposes, so sneaking around generally isn't a problem. Some are very high altitude systems. Other (usually tethered) systems are intended to be for base/ border protection purposes, where it may actually help being highly visible, for deterrence and PsyOps purposes, or at least to help complicate an enemy's plan of action. And even more of those lighter than air craft are intended to haul large amounts of cargo rather than ISR operations.
 
...and this one is very well camouflaged.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8678759/Search-is-on-for-missing-floating-island.html

http://www.is-land.co.uk/wordpress2/secret-garden-party/

Currently adrift somewhere in the atmosphere.

Chris
 
Stupid hippies! Note their tone when they talk about it intercepting your easyJet flight to the Algarve - patronising eco drivel masking danger to human life.


Presumably it does not use any form of helium gas, but is inflated with a mix of self-importance and spliff smoke!
 
Giant Spy Blimp Dwarfs an 18-Wheeler

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/giant-blimp-dwarfs-truck/
 
harrier said:
Stupid hippies! Note their tone when they talk about it intercepting your easyJet flight to the Algarve - patronising eco drivel masking danger to human life.


Presumably it does not use any form of helium gas, but is inflated with a mix of self-importance and spliff smoke!
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I note they characterise the people who released the balloon into the sky:

A statement on the 'Is Land' website reads: "Due to ignorant vandals, the original Is Land is currently floating at an unknown height somewhere within the atmosphere.
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For "ignorant" they seemed pretty well informed as how to free the island from its middle of the lake tether. Would they call someone who freed chickens from a hen battery “ignorant vandals”? Strange how when the shoe is on the other foot an act of liberation becomes ‘ignorant vandalism’.

I wonder what Hayao Miyazaki thinks of this?
 

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