4 ms·

I'm curious whether it is common to test this kind of technology right on top of large US cities? Don't most missile defense technologies get tested in more pr

I'm curious whether it is common to test this kind of technology right on top of large US cities? Don't most missile defense technologies get tested in more practical, or at least, remote settings? Why aren't these hovering over places that actually are subjected to, or at least more likely to be subjected to missile attacks, like Korea or Israel?

ceejayoz 12y ago
I suspect they're interested in tracking aircraft (and drones) to enforce the flight restrictions around the White House and other areas. As it can track ground vehicles, it could also be useful for tracking vehicles of interest for undetectable surveillance. If I were a Secret Service agent, my biggest fear would be swarm of off-the-shelf drones carrying grenades into something like inauguration. Something like this could give the early warning they need.
- kenrikm 12y ago
  Not sure about that being feasible to detect things of that nature with this system. For example you can build a mini quadcopter (size of a bird) weighing 5-800gms that can provide 2+KG of thrust. Back of the napkin math says a 400gm m67 grenade is easily within the payload capacity (Assuming 70% throttle to hover all up payload would be 1400+-gms). I would be very impressed if this could differentiate "bird sized flying objects" from birds. With that in mind I think we can be glad that complicated plots of that nature stay in the realm of James Bond rather then reality. Also I think the Boston bombings show that bad people don't need complicated technology to do bad things.
- walshemj 12y ago
  Sound like an entry in Bruce Scheiers Movie plot competition - I would assume that the Secret service and other TLA's have been thinking about this already - off the shelf drones would be a bit to easy to jam I feel. I believe that the IRA did experiment with RC planes but found that DIY mortars where simpler - they very nearly hit downing street a few years back.
influx 12y ago
These blimps have been used for well over a decade in the southern US border to detect low flying drug smuggling aircraft.
- vibrolax 12y ago
  For example, the aerostat that's been tethered at cudjoe key since about 1980. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_Syste...
adestefan 12y ago
It's not on top of a large US city. They're tethered at Aberdeen Proving Ground which is ~35 miles from downtown Baltimore and ~70 miles from downtown Washington, DC.
graupel 12y ago
They actually tested these in Dugway, Utah - way, way out in the remote desert - the deployment in Washington isn't as much of a 'test' as it is a real-life use.
dragontamer 12y ago
Washington DC is a valid nuclear target, is it not? It seems like the blimp is designed to at least try to track ICBMs (which are notoriously hard to find and track).
- mikecb 12y ago
  This has a range from DC to Boston. If it saw an ICBM, it would be the reentry vehicle, and it would be too late.
  - dragontamer 12y ago
    Too late to stop, but maybe not too late to warn a few critical people to GTFO to their nuclear bunkers.
- mikeash 12y ago
  I thought ICBMs were trivial to track. They emit a vast plume when they launch, and in the cruise phase they're way up in space, far away from anything that might confuse radars. The threat of ICBMs isn't that they're hard to track, but that their great speed makes them extremely difficult to intercept.

ceejayoz 12y ago

I suspect they're interested in tracking aircraft (and drones) to enforce the flight restrictions around the White House and other areas. As it can track ground vehicles, it could also be useful for tracking vehicles of interest for undetectable surveillance. If I were a Secret Service agent, my biggest fear would be swarm of off-the-shelf drones carrying grenades into something like inauguration. Something like this could give the early warning they need.

kenrikm 12y ago
Not sure about that being feasible to detect things of that nature with this system. For example you can build a mini quadcopter (size of a bird) weighing 5-800gms that can provide 2+KG of thrust. Back of the napkin math says a 400gm m67 grenade is easily within the payload capacity (Assuming 70% throttle to hover all up payload would be 1400+-gms). I would be very impressed if this could differentiate "bird sized flying objects" from birds. With that in mind I think we can be glad that complicated plots of that nature stay in the realm of James Bond rather then reality. Also I think the Boston bombings show that bad people don't need complicated technology to do bad things.
walshemj 12y ago
Sound like an entry in Bruce Scheiers Movie plot competition - I would assume that the Secret service and other TLA's have been thinking about this already - off the shelf drones would be a bit to easy to jam I feel. I believe that the IRA did experiment with RC planes but found that DIY mortars where simpler - they very nearly hit downing street a few years back.

influx 12y ago

These blimps have been used for well over a decade in the southern US border to detect low flying drug smuggling aircraft.

vibrolax 12y ago
For example, the aerostat that's been tethered at cudjoe key since about 1980. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_Syste...

adestefan 12y ago

It's not on top of a large US city. They're tethered at Aberdeen Proving Ground which is ~35 miles from downtown Baltimore and ~70 miles from downtown Washington, DC.

graupel 12y ago

They actually tested these in Dugway, Utah - way, way out in the remote desert - the deployment in Washington isn't as much of a 'test' as it is a real-life use.

dragontamer 12y ago

Washington DC is a valid nuclear target, is it not? It seems like the blimp is designed to at least try to track ICBMs (which are notoriously hard to find and track).

mikecb 12y ago
This has a range from DC to Boston. If it saw an ICBM, it would be the reentry vehicle, and it would be too late.
- dragontamer 12y ago
  Too late to stop, but maybe not too late to warn a few critical people to GTFO to their nuclear bunkers.
mikeash 12y ago
I thought ICBMs were trivial to track. They emit a vast plume when they launch, and in the cruise phase they're way up in space, far away from anything that might confuse radars. The threat of ICBMs isn't that they're hard to track, but that their great speed makes them extremely difficult to intercept.