Building a 21st Century Military With 19th Century Technology

Aug. 8, 2006 — -- The Pentagon is looking at some 19th century technology -- gas-filled airships, also known as blimps or dirigibles -- as it tries to transform America's military into a 21st century fighting force.

The Army's Missile Defense Agency is spending tens of millions of dollars to develop what it calls a "high altitude airship."

The unmanned, untethered, helium-filled, solar-powered craft would stay aloft 65,000 feet above Earth for up to a year while carrying 500 pounds of equipment.

According to Pentagon budget documents, officials hope to have a test flight for a HAA prototype as soon as 2008.

A potential use of a HAA would be to patrol a 500-mile buffer zone over the ocean along the U.S. coastline, using infra-red surveillance devices that could spot sophisticated cruise missiles more than 370 miles away and boats on the water nearly 200 miles away.

Backers of the project say airships are much cheaper than manned surveillance aircraft or satellites.

The airship is being developed by defense contracting giants Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Co., and Northrop Grumman Corp.

It could be as much as 17 times bigger than the Goodyear blimp.

It will be covered with a man-made fiber stronger than the material now used for blimps.

This fiber will protect the airship from harsh, high-altitude conditions and possible small-arms fire from enemy forces.

"The vision for this stratospheric platform is an array of sensors to create a radar nearly as large as the airship itself," said Jeffery Mack, program director for the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y.

The military already uses tethered gas-filled balloons -- sometimes called aerostats -- as floating observation posts in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Positioned about 1,000 feet above the ground, these balloons are fitted with sensors and cameras.

The Israeli military has also equipped tethered balloons with remote-controlled rifles, turning them into floating snipers.