Air Force Developing Surveillance Mega-Blimp Dubbed 'Blue Devil'

by Caleb Johnson on January 20, 2011 at 08:00 AM

The U.S. Air Force is developing a $211 million surveillance mega-blimp, which, if completed, could stay in the air for a week and will be seven times larger than the Goodyear Blimp. The project, dubbed 'Blue Devil,' could change the way surveillance missions are carried out in Afghanistan by serving as a floating information hub, according to Wired. The 350-foot-long blimp could ascend as high as 20,000 feet and survey a 2.5-mile-wide swath of land. While these specs are impressive, it's what the blimp will carry on-board that's really mindboggling. The Blue Devil blimp will be equipped with about a dozen interchangeable sensors, which will be connected to several on-board cameras.

To process and index all the footage that's collected, Blue Devil will also haul a supercomputer, which will host the equivalent of 2,000 single-core servers. This gigantic processor is crucial to the project's primary goal, which is to get information to the ground within 15 seconds. It understandably takes a lot of manpower and time to organize and sift through surveillance data that's culled from several different aircraft in a given area; by serving as a central surveillance hub for a large area, Blue Devil could save critical time for military analysts. Not only would all the data be collected in one place, but the blimp's supercomputer could also process and index this data using meta tags, like time or location, which would make it easier for ground troops to search and pull the information they need from the servers.

If project Blue Devil comes together as planned (which may be a big "if," considering that the Air Force hasn't even begun to assemble the hull yet), the mega-blimp will take its first flight on October 15th. Don't forget though, the U.S. Army is also developing a Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV), which is planned to launch by the end of the year. Who will launch first? It looks like it will be a race to the finish, folks -- a very slow and expensive one, but a race nonetheless.

Next >> 'The Best Designed Tech that Flopped'

Tags: AirForce, airship, airships, blimp, blimps, flight, military, surveillance, top, transportation, UsAirForce

via: DVICE
source: Wired

Comments

luetteJan 20th 2011 8:12PM

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and just how simple it would be to shoot the giant blimp out of the sky.....seriously, are you kidding?

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Coz McRaeJan 20th 2011 8:27PM

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@luette
The article said it will fly at 20,000 ft so it won't be as easy to shoot down as Iuette seems to think.

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klujJan 20th 2011 8:20PM

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ahhh whats the difference...its all monopoly money to them anyway!

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Coz McRaeJan 20th 2011 8:27PM

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I'm not impressed by its size at 350 ft. That's not even half the size of the famous German zeppelin Hindenburg that crashed in 1937.
The age of the great airships didn't end simply because of the Hindenburg crash. Many American and British airships had crashed because they were destroyed by sudden wind gusts and such.

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ZachJan 20th 2011 8:34PM

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Actually, it would be pretty tough to bring down. While the size gives it away, the fact that it will remain pretty "cold" will give it the edge. Insurgent anti-air technology (which is heat-based) wont be able to find the blimp and take it out. Also, the shell of the blimp probably will not be your standard fabric that can easily tear, and the ballasts will probably sectioned off to be able to maintaining flight even while hit. Also, the Air Forces doctrine has been to add radar bouncing stealth tech to every aircraft. This vehicle will have enough sensors to see whats coming and to adjust properly. Another fact is that this vehicle has a long loieter time which is great against insurgents. And being able to continuously survey militants for a week will be a huge advantage when operations have a very small window.

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sjt1952Jan 20th 2011 8:37PM

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Are you kiddin' me. They will shoot that blimp down. But at 211 mil a pop someone is going to make some pocket change. I do not thing it well happen. So, we will see.?

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CipherJan 20th 2011 9:02PM

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Why don't the Air Force and the Army SHARE costs and settle on ONE LEMV ? Hey isn't there a deficit in this country and we are duplicate spending on the military defense items?

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Jorge MachadoJan 20th 2011 10:17PM

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The Military Industrial boys say we need it. SO WE NEED IT ! So quit your whining all you lefty, unemployed tree huggeres. The BOYS always get what they know whats best for us.

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justblaze2010xxJan 20th 2011 10:17PM

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Our tax dollars at work....what else is new....why would they even release info on this project.

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What?!Jan 20th 2011 10:52PM

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I think it is a bad idea. I mean a blimp? Come on, we can do better than that. Should we enter the war, that blimp would be popped down easily.

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pete387joeJan 20th 2011 11:16PM

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Kudos to Zach for shooting down the "They will shoot it down" crowd. He is quite correct in that while *people* would be able to see the blimp the vast majority of surface to air weapon systems would detect nothing. As he explained, most systems rely upon either a heat signature or a good radar return signature to home in upon. This blimp would present neither. Except for larger more expensive systems nearly all ground to air shoulder fired missiles lack the necessary 4 mile range to reach the blimp. As with the F117.... shooting one down depends upon the "golden BB" theory. IF the enemy had an unlimited supply of surface to air missiles and they fired everything they could up in the air..... one *might* just hit it. While certainly costly and an apparent duplication of efforts with competition from the Army...... timely accurate information is critical in combat operations. Additionally it was only stated that the Army was working on an LEMV. There may be a significant difference in the operational mission of their craft which would mean only a similar platform...... not necessarily the same platform.

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