Stealth blimps the new black helicopters?

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

In a situation like Afghanistan or Iraq it could sit there forever and no one could probably touch it.

Actually, I'm convinced that it was for just such a mission that the USAF funded the Ascender V-ship project several years ago.

Of course, no ever came right out and said as much, but you can get the gist of a plan by the questions you're asked.

Pentagon plans ‘spy’ blimp

* Dirigible would monitor small movements in wide area, such as Pak-Afghan border
* Ship to fly at 65,000 feet, beyond range of any handheld missile

The Pentagon on Thursday said it intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant dirigible that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth for 10 years, providing intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and people below.

Source: www.dailytimes.com.pk...

Check out this video of a Military Blimp!

Only my second post here, so if someone already has shown this, sorry.



www.youtube.com...

[edit on 14-3-2009 by Whiteone]

reply to post by Whiteone


Good thinking, video is always good.

Ohh and don't doubt yourself, the vultures here will have a field day with you

Thanks for contributing.

~Keeper

Technology is constantly changing, and for us to think that an aircraft like this is being conceived, and the designers etc haven't thought about things like being visible to the eye, top speed, "enemy" threats etc, is naive.

Only recently I heard or read or seen something about stealth/camouflage technology that's almost near prefection the same principle as the "Vanquish" car from James Bond. You know, surface covered in tiny cameras and screens and the screens project what the cameras on the opposite side, showing what the viewer would see if the object wasn't there. Anyways with the heights these things could reach I doubt anyone would see it with the naked eye or a high spec set of binoculars and also doubt any weapons could reach it.

What if it isn't for foreign missions? Domestic surveillance is what I thought of. I know they can do it in plain view but it would be an ideal way to have constant domestic surveillance.

Perhaps someone can tell me there is such an anti-missile defence that could be used onboard an aircraft as this? I was thinking due it's advantage in height it would have ample time to react to any such threats?

reply to post by Zaphod58


Oh ok. That makes sense.

I am out of questions now

Thanks for answering my questions.

I appreciate it.

Imagine a blimp as a high altitude stealth aircraft carrier.

You could coat the outside with the same material as a stealth bomber.

Move troops and vehicles anywhere without being seen under cover of dark.

Project images on the outside of the blimp to make people on conspiracy forums think they are alien ships. The projected image on the side could even look lights coming from a sibgle source and then coming back together. Maybe even project a movie of the object moving off at a high rate of speed.

If your hearing about "stealth" blimps nw they have been in service a lot longer than you realize!

Couple of thoughts here:

The assumption is that Black Chopters are used for mobility right? A blimp is not all that mobile, and stealthy or not its an oddity that anybody will see in the sky.

Stealthy? The average citizen does not have a radar set so why bother with stealth?

Originally posted by IntelRetard
Imagine a blimp as a high altitude stealth aircraft carrier.

Now you're catching on!


Given the lifting capacity of some of the designs being kicked around by the military, it is entirely possible that one or more of these extreme high altitude (65-100KFT) airship designs could be outfitted as "shock-troop" delivery systems complete with low RCS "drop-ships"


It would not be the first time that a dirigible has been used to launch and recover powered, conventional aircraft.

reply to post by FredT


At an altitude of 80-100,000ft, you'd have to have a really HUGE airship to be able to see it with the naked eye from the ground; maybe a half mile to a mile long?


And since an airship generallly doesn't need to leave a contrail, it would be even harder to track.

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


Stay put somewhere besides the equator, for far less money?

also, there's a practical limit to what you can see from space, because of the inhomogenity of the atmosphere, and diffraction. A telescope on a blimp would probably be close enough to reliably read license plates, and maybe things smaller than that.

A blimp like that would be untouchable in any circumstance short of full out war with a major power. MIG-25s can certainly hit them, but I'm fairly sure J-10s and MIG-29s or SU-27s wouldn't be able to. The nice thing about airships is that the density of the atmosphere isn't that much of a problem. baloons can get up above 80000 feet

In fact, it's almost pointless to make one stealthy. it takes a very powerful SAM to get that high, and it's wiser to spy on the people who own such things with satellites. Don't want another U2 crisis, after all.

There is a lot more info on them here:

The Stealth Blimp dot com

People report seeing these quite often to MUFON and other reporting agencies. The descriptions are always a large black triangle, light on the belly and on the corners. We have a new stealth craft in service, and it has been for quite some time.

reply to post by chemtrailsmakemesneeze


Well, the problem with this is that they can be operational for long periods of time without re-fueling. Also, my friend tells me he believes he is being watched. What is the probability of being directly over flight paths of commercail jet-liners? One after another and another. What capabilties do the aircraft have. I have heard of "dusting", and microwave bursts, and invisible "laser". Is this correct? Any other inforemation other than surveillance, would the planes be doing? Any inforemation on airport security reporting government agents outfitting commericail aircraft with gadgets? thanks for your time.

reply to post by alexander_delta


thanks for that link