That fucking blimp cost 1.4b dollars.

[Warren Stupidity]

$1.4 Billion Army Surveillance Blimp Breaks Free & Wreaks Havoc

U.S. military officials scrambled Wednesday to capture a billion-dollar unmanned surveillance blimp that broke free of its moorings in Maryland and drifted across Pennsylvania, downing power lines and knocking out electricity for tens of thousands of residents. The blimp has the capacity to surveil a region the size of Texas. Built by military contractor Raytheon, there are only two of these blimps in the world. Each effectively costs $1.4 billion. The U.S. military has another surveillance blimp, of a different model, that floats over Kabul at all times.

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/29/headlines/14_billion_army_surveillance_blimp_breaks_free_wreaks_havoc

[DJ13]

1. $1.4b or this for $20,000

hmmmmm........

[Wilms]

2. Is that an aerial Tiny House?

[PoliticAverse]

5. It's from the 2009 Pixar film 'Up'...

[hedgehog]

25. Where did the GIF of the shaking heads come from?

[DJ13]

52. I have no idea

I ran across that gif in a random search on Google.

It looks familiar, but I dont know.

[sakabatou]

84. Team Fortress 2

[DJ13]

88. Thank you, how did you figure that out?

[sakabatou]

89. Because of this guy's Youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/Ferexes/videos

[DJ13]

90. Thata a lot of material he has up there

Wow!

[pa28]

3. Well, they need something to do at the NSA's information dominance center.

Why not hoover up your grocery list and naughty text messages with a 1.4 billion dollar spy blimp? It's only fitting.

[grasswire]

7. oh god, not my naughty text messages!

Hadn't thought about that.

[Dustlawyer]

94. What was a blimp like this doing over Washington?

Who were their targets? Who had they been listening to?

[Monk06]

4. I'm not even sure Americans are allowed to know how much money Raytheon sucks from the life blood of

the US taxpayer That company has had a blank check since the days of Dr Stangelove

That airbag is not worth $1.4 Billion even with the electronics

[Aerows]

29. I know a mechanical engineer that works for them.

I don't know how he even managed to graduate, because he couldn't poor piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the sole.

He is the epitome of the good ol' boys network. That's the kind of folks that get ahead at Raytheon - complete and total idiots that speak schmooze.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. What A Visual!

That's funny stuff, Aerows!

[Aerows]

37. Never let it be said

that I hold back when I know something is WRONG.

I am pretty much genetically incapable of *not* speaking up.

[llmart]

67. LOL at the comment.....

We need more people like you who are willing to speak up.

[malaise]

46. It's the spread fear industry

The MIC -the real destroyers of America

[underahedgerow]

59. "You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has

270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?"

Rock Hound, Armageddon. Best. Quote. Ever.

[JonathanRackham]

6. Maybe it came with a transporter and warp drive.

Government seems to overspend on everything.

[truebluegreen]

9. "The defense/surveillance complex seems to overspend

on everything."

Fixed it for ya.

[JonathanRackham]

11. The whole issue is offensive as well.

I thought zeppelins went out with WWI.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. It went rogue!

[rainbow4321]

10. PA state troopers deflated it with their guns, per the news

Guess that $1.4 Billion didn't include bullet proofing...

It's gonna be laying around in the trees/field for a while...news said it is gonna take a few weeks to get it removed.

[Hortensis]

12. Wow. Here's another: America spent $11 BILLION on Halloween last year.

[WinkyDink]

14. The topic is governmental priorities, not individual spending.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. um uh there was a point

it was way way over there

[Hortensis]

17. Train of thought wandering way over. :) It was offered for perspective

and a view from a slightly different angle.

Ultimately, government spending IS the result of the decisions of the citizens it belongs to. You know, WinkyDink, representative government of the people, by the people, and for the people? We're incredibly improvident and wasteful both ways, although I have no idea if, or how much, this blimp is an example of that. At least it wasn't used one time and sent off to thousands of landfills.

[Marr]

105. Do you really think the people of this country want to cut, say, Social Security to

buy a fucking blimp?

You really believe government spending represents public opinion?

[Hortensis]

109. Of course, no, and not a problem. And, yes! Definitely.

The "opinion" may just be don't bother me with the details, but there are over 300 million of us. "THEY" do nothing we don't allow.

If even 5% more liberals/Democrats/progressives of all persuasions consistently voted, we could override the conservatives' tendency to obedient, passive authoritarian support of the people who are sacking our country and could start tossing the bums out. We are a majority, it's just that most of us live in more urban areas and many of our votes are wasted (like by electing 1 candidate with a 100,000-vote majority instead of 20 with 5,000-vote majorities in more rural areas).

BTW, that $11 billion (only one of our many frivolities AFTER we shuffled most of our nation wealth into the hands of a few) ) should make clear that we can afford Social Security -- we just have to stop the conservative leaders determined to destroy it by, among other plottings, telling us we can't.

[Warren DeMontague]

57. Yeah, and got a hell of a lot more return than we did for this wayward blimp, too.

[Hortensis]

58. Really? How do we know that a bunch of throwaway plastic pumpkins

are "more"? Ignorance of much we'd like to know is inevitable, but we should at least try to avoid the indulgence of marrying ignorance itself with discontent to produce conviction.

[Warren DeMontague]

65. And ironically, that sentence, said with much conviction, doesn't really mean anything.

Value is relative, to be sure, or subjective- but Halloween is a lot of fun for a lot of people.

Shakes out to value in my mind.

[WinkyDink]

13. No money for S.S.! No money for Medicare!

[Snarkoleptic]

16. "This world in arms is not spending money alone..."

[Duppers]

19. If this was $1.4B to help create real jobs...

the Rethugs would be having fits.

I fear this blimp surveillance will be used here too.

[Paper Roses]

20. Blimps, hammers, toilet seats.. ad infinitum. What is a billion dollars here or there?

While our children starve, the pentagon keeps up these wonderful (snark) endeavors.

Wish I was younger, I'd find a way to join some endeavor that attempts to curb the ridiculous expenditures that this government of ours seems to think are necessary.
I've been around for a long time. Seen the follies since I was old enough to pay attention.

One boondoggle after another. We have no say, no voice that means anything.
I feel so sorry for our young people. Talk about batting you head against the wall. I no longer believe that contacting your congress person makes a difference. We are on our own.

[dbackjon]

24. From same article

In 2012, the JLENS program experienced a Nunn-McCurdy cost breach due to budget cuts for unit procurements. Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall reviewed the program and directed the Army to continue with a reduced test plan using the two existing JLENS developmental orbits and prepare for operational testing at Aberdeen.[11] Two years later, in March 2014, a report by the Government Accountability Office concluded that $2.78 billion had been invested in system design, development and other costs.[12]



So $1.4 Billion for each is effective cost right now.

[FreedomRain]

36. it is not

I'm not saying this isn't an example of DoD waste and dubious motives, but come on. For that 2.8B we bought a lot of research that will go to other projects, some of them more worthy perhaps.

[Warren Stupidity]

42. No we bought two worthless fucking blimps.

[dbackjon]

43. That is one spin, I guess

Let's spend a lot of money on projects that don't work, in hopes that someday, we'll develop something useful to the military spying programs

[Demeter]

31. You mean there are 8 of those things out there?

8 useless pieces of plastic?

[bulloney]

93. That can be shot out of the sky and disabled with firearms?

Another shining example of the MIC budget rat hole.

[jberryhill]

108. You have a firearm that shoots two miles up?

Really?

[bulloney]

111. That thing didn't look like it was 2 miles up in the pictures.

It was damaging power lines and the like before they shot it down.

[jberryhill]

113. Well, yeah... The pictures were after it got loose

Dragging cable, you say? Hmmm...

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0SM2F920151029

A high-tech U.S. military blimp designed to detect a missile attack came loose on Wednesday and wreaked havoc as it floated from Maryland into Pennsylvania while dragging more than a mile of cable and knocking out power to thousands.

....and that's only the piece of cable that snapped when it was being deployed.

I've seen it under normal operation. You don't have a gun that shoots that high.

[ryan_cats]

22. It

It was built with a $500 hammer and had a $20k toilet seat.

[d_legendary1]

23. So you mean to tell me that the Goodyear Blimp was actually a spy blimp?

And all this time I thought it was effective marketing...

...wait...1.4 BILLION!!!! HOLY COW!!!!! No wonder we have nothing for education!

[azmom]

26. 1.4 billion for an oversize condom

[KamaAina]

38. Oversize? Speak for yourself.

[azmom]

41. Hahaha

[Kath1]

70. LOL!

Nice one!

[WDIM]

27. Complete waste of tax payers money.

Repugs complain about feeding the hungry while we make the war profiteers rich. what a twist up messed world we live in.

[KeepItReal]

28. One blimp cost more than four F-14D Tomcats and they filled it full of lead

That's in today's dollars.

MSNBC says each blimp costs $235 million with R&D costs factored in.

[Demeter]

30. I like how it took out powerlines, shorting them as it drifted

That would be a real cheap, low-tech weapon! Bring down the grid, why don't you?

[tabasco]

34. A billion here, a billion there,

pretty soon you're talking about some real money.


http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Senator_Everett_Mckinley_Dirksen_Dies.htm

[Gore1FL]

35. Did they catch it?

The article agonizingly forgot to mention this obvious part of the story.

[Aerows]

39. I know some folks

that are wealthy as all get out. I won't state my affiliation, because I do not need retaliation.

Everyone that is associated with the MIC in this country - and make no mistake they are up to not just their behinds, they are up to their necks - they have a river of money that is drenched in blood.

We all know it. It has gone way too damn far.

EVERYONE that is even peripherally attached knows it.

I listen to people glad-handing and it disgusts me. The biggest enemy of the United States of America at this point is itself.

[Brother Buzz]

40. Lawnchair Larry built one for, like, $19.95

[B Calm]

48. I don't remember that story, what year did that stunt take place?

[Brother Buzz]

49. 1982 - I remember it well for some odd reason despite thinking it happened in the seventies

Larry Walters had his own wiki page - sad story

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Walters

[louis-t]

44. Only in America would we spend $1.4 bil on 1930s technology.

I kept wanting to ask, was Balloon Boy on the thing?

[hifiguy]

45. Does it look like, perchance?

[lumberjack_jeff]

47. +1 n/t

[Dont call me Shirley]

85. And does it sound like this...

Big man, Pig man, ha ha charade you are

[jtuck004]

50. "...there are only two of these blimps in..." < One.One of these blimps in the world...

with apologies to Mel Brooks.

[JimDandy]

102. LOL.

[Historic NY]

51. Its gonna take a lot of patches to put blimpy together again.

[passiveporcupine]

54. All the king's horses and all the king's men

couldn't put Blimpy together again.

[ArcticFox]

53. no, the blimp didn't cost close to that

It's a 1.4 billion dollar program. Each blimp costs considerably less.

[Warren Stupidity]

63. 2.8 billion total spent. Output: two blimps.

I'm having trouble with the math but I think 2.8/2 = 1.4, amirite?

In 2012, the JLENS program experienced a Nunn-McCurdy cost breach due to budget cuts for unit procurements. Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall reviewed the program and directed the Army to continue with a reduced test plan using the two existing JLENS developmental orbits and prepare for operational testing at Aberdeen.[10] Two years later, in March 2014, a report by the Government Accountability Office concluded that $2.78 billion had been invested in system design, development and other costs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JLENS

[PosterChild]

75. This is the wrong way to evaluate an R&D program...

.,,, it makes no sense at all. R&D is not manufacturing where unit cost is a valid measure. The purpose of R&D is to make a few mistakes up front before you make 10,000 or 10,000,000 mistakes. It would be extremely stupid to try to save on eventual unit costs by cutting R&D.

Of course , this method of assement makes a lot of sense for those whose product is sensational journalism.

[Warren Stupidity]

76. Um uh, you're so right. When we get into the mass production of fucking blimps

I'm sure the unit cost will be way lower than 1.4B. Never mind that this stupid program was cancelled and that the technology is circa 1910, and that it was a boondoggle from start to finish. I'm sure level headed people like you have all the real facts on hand to dispel the obvious: that this program produced two blimps at a cost of 2.8B dollars, that the blimps were worse than useless, and that the final act of this folly was to have half of the "fleet" shot down after going beserk by cops with shotguns.

Now lets talk about the JSF. I'm sure you have some perfectly marvelous explanation for why we shouldn't consider each airplane's price tag 12+B dollars, and that the fact that the planes actually suck is a good thing.

[PosterChild]

78. The pupose of the program is to protect against . ....

.... cruise missles. Criuse missles are hard to detect and target because they hug the terrain and can't be easily detected by a ground based radar. That's why criuse missles are used to
take out antiaircraft installations in the early phase of a military operation - they help to establish air superiority.

So the problem is to get the anti missle radar up off the ground and looking down on the cruise missle. This will allow it to be detected and targeted. Prima facia an aerostat is an excellent choice for this sort of elevated platform.

My guess is that the cost of this program has been mostly concentrated in the development and testing of the radar detection and targeting electronics than the aerostat platform.

Criuse missles have been a stratigic advantage for our country for some time, but others are developing and beginning to deploy that technology and we should have an effective defense for our anti aircraft capabilities.

[jberryhill]

106. It's not the blimp, it's the electronics

Clearly the money didn't go into the tether.

The merits of a transportable deplorable air defense system that can cover a wide area are debatable, but reducing what this thing is to "a blimp" is not accurate.

It was news to some that we didn't have a system to provide raw blanket data on domestic flying objects in 2001, since we have long had the ability to detect inbound bombers or ballistic missiles since the Cold War. But we wouldn't see a sub launched cruise missile from coastal waters. Again, what that's worth is debatable, but this wasn't a 1.4B balloon.

[Recursion]

55. The blimp did not cost $1.4 billion

The entire lifecycle of developing, using, and maintaining it is not the "price" of the blimp. That's the same logic pharma execs use when they say a pill "costs" $3000.

[Warren Stupidity]

64. Actually it did. The program is kaput. Total output two fucking blimps.

Total cost 2.8B. Yet another pentagon MIC-win/disaster for taxpayers. However in fairness the JSF program with a expected cost of 1.1 MOTHER FUCKING TRILLION DOLLARS and a per unit cost of $12.5 billion per fucking plane, makes this nonsense just noise. Oh and by most accounts the F-35 sucks.

[Warren DeMontague]

56. what the fuck! I could have made them one for just a cool billion or so.

Hell, I'd even do two for one.

[librechik]

60. well, we probably need it more than a new hospital for vets said absolutely no one.

[1939]

61. While it is a large baloon and therefore has some expense

Most of the cost would be in the sophisticated and futuristic electronics package it carries 6,000 feet up in the air.

BTW, in 2014, Raytheon's total sales were just under $5 billion of which 44% was bought by government entities.

[Sunlei]

62. They have more of those billion dollar ballons too, all authorised by our Pentagon big spenders.

They would do better with a couple 3k drones that can carry 2 pounds of cameras or whatever!!

[itsrobert]

66. 1.4b could have built the Raiders a nice new stadium in Downtown Oakland

n/t

[KoKo]

68. Remember when the news broke about that Surveillance Blimp and we Laughed

here on DU about what a Boondoggle that was! Like some don't remember what happens to Blimps because they are Too Young to remember the one that went down in New Jersey so many Decades ago...

Yeah....it did what Blimps do...and our Tax Dollars at Work.

[Divernan]

69. Still waiting to hear how & by whom the blimp was shot down.

Well, we needed these more than new hospitals for vets, amiright? No money to expand Medicare. Raise the retirement age on social security. Ain't America great? (sarcasm)

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/258609-pentagon-army-blimp-actually-still-deflating

The blimp traveled almost 200 miles north at 30 miles per hour, reaching an altitude of 16,000 feet before it lost altitude and speed, landing in northeastern Pennsylvania. Another Pentagon spokesman confirmed reports that the 240-foot blimp was shot down, but did not know how close to the ground the blimp was when it happened.

It is not clear who shot down the blimp.

The system consists of two aerostats: one that provides broad surveillance, and the other that provides more specific surveillance. The blimp that provides more specific surveillance is the one that broke free.

The blimps were both flying at about 6,800 feet, and were tethered to the ground at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., when one of the cables broke near the base. The blimp then drifted along with the about 6,800-foot long cable hanging down. It snapped power lines and left tens of thousands of residents in central Pennsylvania without power. The Pentagon is working with local communities and residents to gather an assessment of how much damage was caused, and how much it will cost to repair it.

[Kath1]

71. $1.4 billion for a damn blimp.

Some people at Raytheon probably retired at 40 off of that thing!

This is total bullshit and I am glad it is coming to light. When people are going hungry and scrambling for jobs in this country, this is obscene!

[PosterChild]

82. I'm guessing, but I don't think...

... the major cost was for the aerostat. It's more likely to be the radar and anti-missle targeting electronics that are being developed.

[Dont call me Shirley]

86. So 1.4b price tag is perfectly justifiable for more damned useless war shit?!!!!

[PosterChild]

87. Shirley, you jest....

.... yes, of course it's perfectly justified. Because it isn't damn useless war shit - it's extremely USEFUL war shit

The pupose of the program is to protect against cruise missles. Criuse missles are hard to detect and target because they hug the terrain and can't be easily detected by a ground based radar. That's why criuse missles are used to take out antiaircraft installations in the early phase of a military operation - they help to establish air superiority.

So the problem is to get the anti missle radar up off the ground and looking down on the cruise missle. This will allow it to be detected and targeted. Prima facia an aerostat is an excellent choice for this sort of elevated platform.

Criuse missles have been a stratigic advantage for our country for some time, but others are developing and beginning to deploy that technology and we should have an effective defense for our anti aircraft capabilities.

[Dont call me Shirley]

96. Oh good, just promote more war shit for violent minded war mongers.

[PosterChild]

97. National security and defense are , ..,

... rational, reasonable, ethical ends; and the reasonable means to rational, reasonable, ethical ends are rational, reasonable, and just.

[Dont call me Shirley]

98. Preemptive War and Broadsweep National Security are neither rational, reasonable nor ethical,

now matter how these pretzels are twisted.

[PosterChild]

99. Opinions are like...

,... well, I won't repeat the cliché since it's a bit crude. You have yours, I have minem and the American people have their's

[Dont call me Shirley]

100. It would be an opinion if it were not for the FACT war and its ugly tentacles are destroying the earth.

[PosterChild]

101. And that fact is why national security and defense are so important ....

.... until there is an effective world hegemony with the power to enforce a uniform system of justice over all man kind, that's basically the way it's going to be. And establishing that world governance, along with the world peace that would result will require a lot more war shit than you might imagine. So if you want a uniform and certain world peace you might want to think about what it might take to realistically obtain it.

[Dont call me Shirley]

103. It's going to take a radical shift in the violent minds and hardened hearts of the oligarchy.

[PosterChild]

104. Umm, OK...

.... give Putin a call and let me know what he says.

[Dont call me Shirley]

110. You could call the Kochs, they may have some frightening info.

[PosterChild]

112. You can call them....

.... I'm OK with the war shit.

[Dont call me Shirley]

114. So sad, such resistance to Peace and Love.

[PosterChild]

115. Thats a laugh . ... it's resistance to...

..... violence, agression and injustice, which are very real in the world and require an effectve and unapologetic response .

[Dont call me Shirley]

116. Oh my side, you're a hoot!

[PosterChild]

117. You're quite the comedian yourself....

... you should take your show on the road.... let us know how that turns out!

[Dont call me Shirley]

121. Thank you, PosterChild and will do...

[PosterChild]

122. Be sure to let ne know when . ...

.... you play baltimore or Washington DC

Try to make it for art-o-matic !

[Phil1934]

72. pathetically, it was

brought down with shotgun blasts.

[PosterChild]

81. That's what's called , ..

... good old American ingenuity .

[Fast Walker 52]

73. beyond sick, what the military gets away with

[Orrex]

74. IT'S NOT A BALLOON--IT'S AN AIRSHIP! AN AIRSHIP!!!

[klook]

95. The Mothership! The Mothership!

It's the Blimp, Frank! It's the Blimp!

[jberryhill]

120. Ever blow up a condom?

It's amazing how big they get.

I just gotta think of the joke you just wrote the punchline for.

[PowerToThePeople]

77. Wow, balloons float away if not secured

This was an expensive balloon.

(I did design work on some electronics that were in the beast)

[PosterChild]

80. My guess is that the ....

.... electronics are the most expensive part of the program , not the aerostat. And, just my opinion , worth their cost.

[PosterChild]

79. The pupose of the program is to protect against . ....

.... cruise missles. Criuse missles are hard to detect and target because they hug the terrain and can't be easily detected by a ground based radar. That's why criuse missles are used to
take out antiaircraft installations in the early phase of a military operation - they help to establish air superiority.

So the problem is to get the anti missle radar up off the ground and looking down on the cruise missle. This will allow it to be detected and targeted. Prima facia an aerostat is an excellent choice for this sort of elevated platform.

My guess is that the cost of this program has been mostly concentrated in the development and testing of the radar detection and targeting electronics than the aerostat platform.

Criuse missles have been a stratigic advantage for our country for some time, but others are developing and beginning to deploy that technology and we should have an effective defense for our anti aircraft capabilities.

[freebrew]

83. One way to justify $$$ for the shadow government...

NSA, CIA, Haliburton, et. al.

Basically, this is part of the $$$ that funds the BFEE.

[JohnnyRingo]

91. A nuclear aircraft carrier costs $4b.

So in perspective, we trade three of these for one carrier? A B2 Spirit stealth bomber is similarly priced, and we hate to even risk those in combat.

I fully understand that the cost of development is spread across the production run, and that's why the relatively small Spirit bomber fleet is so expensive.

To clarify, if it cost $3b to design and build the blimp, and we only want two, that would cost a billion and a half each. If true, the Pentagon is the bad guy here for entering into what they knew would be a cost prohibitive contract.

[smiley]

92. if only 2 exist in the world....

and one was surveiling Kabul. What then, was this one surveiling?

[jberryhill]

107. DC and the region around it.

There have been two of them tethered at Aberdeen for a while now.

[LP2K12]

118. Yep...

The original article is wrong. There are only two produced by that manufacturer, but there are way more than two in the world. When I was enlisted and stationed at Fort Huachuca, AZ they had an aerostat flying. They still do apparently...

Operational Sites: Yuma and Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; Deming, N.M.; Marfa, Eagle Pass, and Rio Grande City, Texas; Cudjoe Key, Fla.; and Lajas, Puerto Rico. Sites located at Morgan City, La., and Matagorda, Texas, are in a cold-storage configuration. Contract management office and logistics hub are located in Chesapeake, Va.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System

[jberryhill]

119. There are normally two flying at Aberdeen

You can see them clear across the Chesapeake.