Blimps scanning the skies for 340 miles...

[jks9199]

Blimplike surveillance craft set to deploy over Maryland heighten privacy concerns

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.

I can actually see where smaller versions with cameras could be really useful. Put two up with a banner between them over a county fair type event, and use them as both advertising and camera platforms... But, there are legit privacy concerns, too... especially when you read the camera capabilities that have already been deployed on these sorts of things.

 

[oftheherd1]

No question this is going to keep the courts busy for a while. While I can see the need for an anti-ballistic missile shield, what do they need cameras for? And the location was a little vague in what you posted, are they tethered to one of the NSA buildings? :lol:

 

[ballen0351]

And the location was a little vague in what you posted, are they tethered to one of the NSA buildings? :lol:

there are lots of small military bases in this part of MD. Lots of testing and strange things in the sky all the time