Fighter Jets Tracking Runaway Military Surveillance Blimp

New York Times

Military officials were scrambling Wednesday to retrieve an unmanned Army surveillance blimp that detached from its moorings in Maryland and drifted north over Pennsylvania.

Two American fighter jets were tracking the blimp, military officials said, that had been tethered at Aberdeen Proving Ground and broke free around noon.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado posted an official statement, saying that the aerostat was “drifting northward & has descended near the ground.”  

They advised anyone who finds it to notify the authorities and to “remain clear.”

Earlier it said it was working with its partners to recover the aerostat safely. It was not immediately clear how it came loose.

Fighter jets track unmanned Army blimp drifting over Pennsylvania: https://t.co/BMiCkpOBAY

— NBC 7 San Diego (@nbcsandiego) October 28, 2015

According to the earlier statement, two F-16 jets from the Atlantic City Air National Guard Base in New Jersey were monitoring the craft, which had been traveling at a steady altitude of about 16,000 feet. About 6,700 feet of tether was attached.

Officials from the defense command are working tandem with the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure that the craft does not interfere with any commercial flights.

A Twitter user named Fisher Creasey spotted the blimp over Bloomsburg, Pa., where he said it had knocked out power to the Columbia-Montour Area Vocational Technical School. He also posted a video of it on Twitter.

@ABC @GMA Landed in bloomsburg right by my school. Knocked out the power at CMVT. pic.twitter.com/WLJydKVf2I

— Fisher P. Creasy (@FPCreasy) October 28, 2015

“When I first saw it was quite high,” Mr. Creasey, 17, a high school student, said, adding that he could see it coming down. “I can only imagine that it crashed,” he added. “I don’t know where else it would go.

The aircraft is known as a Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, and can be used as part of a missile defense system.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the JLENS system has cost the Pentagon $2.7 billion. The paper was critical of the system in an investigation published in September, saying that JLENS is “ineffectual.”

Anyone who sees the aerostat is advised to contact 911 immediately, Aberdeen officials said in a statement, which also said people are warned to keep a safe distance from the airship and tether as contact with them may present significant danger.

In a statement, Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania said state officials were “closely monitoring the situation, and we will work with the appropriate authorities to respond to any resource requests and assist in any way possible.”

The free-floating balloon also brought a note of levity from some politicians.

Note to @usairforce: Follow that blimp! https://t.co/I8NhwW6bl1

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) October 28, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/army-surveillance-blimp-pennsylvania.html?_r=0