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High-Altitude 'Security Blimps' Coming Soon
quackking writes "The AP is reporting (in New York Newsday) that the Georgia Tech spinoff company TechSphere has sold their concept of immense (300 foot diameter), high altitude spherical surveillance blimps to the honchos at Fort Benning, GA, and production is beginning now! (more here.) These things are as big as a 30-story building. Meanwhile Lockheed-Martin is working on gigantic 500-foot long robot blimps, (and more here.) This would be 25 times the size of the well-known Goodyear blimp. Says Mayor Don Plusquellic, 'For Akron, it's a very emotional thing.'"
Hey, fine. As long as we get to put an antenna on it and use it for wireless access.
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.
From the TechsSphere page on the project:
This release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements appear in a number of places in this release and include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) the Company's financing plans; (ii) trends affecting the Company's financial condition or results of operations; (iii) the Company's growth strategy and operating strategy; and (iv) the declaration and payment of dividends. The words may, would, will, expect, estimate, anticipate, believe, intend, and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.
Man sometimes the beauty of legal double talk brings tears to thine eyes...***sniff sniff***
Notice their plan for using the blimps for homeland security. Notice the lack of ballons to the north. Do we trust canadians now? (j/k) But seriously, what happends when somone flys over canadian air space and around the blimps?
They were Zeppelins/Dirigibles. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand why they're trying to build giant balloons instead of rigid airships. Rigid airships are easier to engineer, have better compartmentalizing/redundancy, and can be easily built to massive proportions. Instead we'd rather have a single inflatable bag the size of the Empire State Building.
Am I the only one who's a little surprised by their choice?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
As far as shooting them down goes . . . one could easily shoot down an AWAC (large radio relay and surveilance plane) too, but they are escorted and/or fly near, but outside the combat theatre.
The intent of balloons/blimps is to keep them outside the theatre of combat . . . If it flies high enough, then one can use it to spy enemy activities past the horizon . . . or at least the horizon at ground level. In other words, at higher altitudes, one can see/snoop on radio transmissions/etc. further than at ground level due to the curvature of the earth . . . so even if you fly behind friendly lines, you can still spy on the enemy.
Not only were both rigid-body airships and blimps everywhere, helium was declared a strategic war material. A National Helium Reserve was established in 1925, and we've been sitting on stockpiles of the stuff ever since. Finally, it will get used for its intended purpose (hopefully...)
As a native of Akron, I can tell you that blimps are an emotional issue with residents of the region. We associate blimps with Goodyear and, by extension, the rubber companies. Prior to the late 1970s, Akron was the rubber capital of the world. There were scores of tire manufacturing plants. Likely as not, your father owed his job directly or indirectly to the rubber industry (either he worked in the plants, sold goods and services to the plants, or sold goods and services to people who worked in the plants). The rubber industry was the focal point of local pride.
Then the rubber union went on strike one last time... *poof*
NO more tires made in Akron. Tens of thousands of jobs eliminated. The whole local economy went in the sewer for the next 25 years.
Akron is just starting to come back. But in the minds of the those of us from Akron, anyone's blimp makes us think of the real thing (a Goodyear blimp) and the good old days.
Thaddeus Lowe, grandfather of "Pancho" Barnes of "The Right Stuff" fame, provided balloon-borne reconnaissance services to the Union Army as a contractor, until he quit the deal in disgust over corrupt contract management in the Army.
Germany used Zeppelins (aka dirigibles) in WW1 for reconnaissance and a small (though dramatic) amount of bombing. As a result of this, the US, which had the only known source of helium in those days, refused to sell it to Germany after the war, which led directly to the Hindenburg disaster. (Yeah, yeah, I know the combustible-fabric story, and if you believe it you can still buy aircraft fabric and aluminized dope and find out for yourself how much of a fire it makes in the absence of hydrogen!)
British cities used "barrage balloons," unmanned balloons tethered over cities by steel cables intended to snag low-flying bombers in WW2.
The entire US coastline and much of the Caribbean were patrolled during WW2 by Navy blimps (and a very few dirigibles) which were ideal for finding and destroying U-Boats -- a capability which can be explored by googling "Brewster angle".
The Japanese fire balloons were aimed at the continental US...Hawaii would be much too small a target to hit. Quite a few reached the States -- I believe one got as far as a Chicago suburb -- but the gubmint pressured police, fire departments and news media to cover up the events as far as possible; there were no really big fires set, and the lack of publicity caused the Japanese to drop the project for lack of apparent results.
rj