Originally posted by longbow
But blimps as spy platforms suck, sorry guys. You need a HUGE blimp to go higher than 10 000 meters. Such beast is very visible, it's no problem to shoot it down. And you cannot make it optically invisible because such stalth skin weights too much. Of course over friendly (or conquered) territory blimps rock. They're cheap and can stay in air for a lot of time. They would be great to guard US-Mexico border for example. Just add high resolution cameras and powerfull IR detectors amd NO ONE will cross the border illegally.
I don't see weight as a issue when blimps can be made to carry payloads in the hundreds of tons. The German civilian blimp "sky crane" can carry 160 tons. How do you know how much electro-optical camouflage would weigh anyway? There isn't that much information on the stuff but we do have evidence it is shockingly lightweight.
Dr. Rashid Zeineh (a.k.a. Dr. Z) how much weight STS would add to an iRobot PackBot UGV (Unmmaned Ground Vehicle)/Robot or Foster-Miller Weaponized Talon Robot/SWORDS (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System) UGV, he replied " Less than 2 lbs. That's as specific as I want to be."
link
You also don't need a "HUGE blimp to go higher than 10 000 meters" Not nearly to the extent that you will be able to see it. The Excelsior III gondola used by Joe Kittinger was able to reach (19.5 miles above sea level), and though it was a big balloon it was nowhere near big enough to be visible at those heights.
This balloon reached 24,000 meters and filled the role of a communication hub and you wouldn't see it close to those heights either
www.newscientist.com...
Read some of my posts and you'll see why it's very viable. Also a
Stealth Blimp will never exist. A blimp is just a big amorphous gasbag. The future of aerostat technology will be a rigid, aerodynamic, stealthy
flying wing using Vacuum cells for weight and mass reduction, while it gets most of its lift from Aerodynamics and Jet/Turbine/Prop. engines. 
Come to think of this that
would be absolutely fabulous to try out on a B-2 Spirit if they could make a big enough OLED screen....INVISIBLE BOMBER O' DEATH! 
. They also have a wider range of colors, brightness then LCDs and can even produce true
black something LCDs can do. 
thanks for posting it. Inserting thousands of microscopic image sensors in-between the
liquid crystal display cells in the screen. Very interesting.. being able to simultaneously takes pictures while showing images. 
Im lost.. 
