Blimps aren’t exactly known for striking fear into the hearts of men. But the Army’s betting they can still make insurgents in Afghanistan feel like they’re living in a panopticon.
Lots of bases in Afghanistan have surveillance aerostats floating above them on a tether, thanks to a program called RAID. Cheaper and easier to operate than drones, the balloons have helped troops spot insurgents as they plant bombs, Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, the outgoing leader of the Pentagon’s anti-bomb squad, told reporters this week. The fact that the blimps are tethered means their spy gear can only view a set area, but the Army sees them providing an even bigger psychological advantage.
In a pre-solicitation released Wednesday, the Army asks industry to prepare an “Aerostat Deception system,” giving small units blimps that can “deceive insurgents with the appearance of enhanced capabilities.” Insurgents see the aerostats floating above bases, the idea goes, and figure they’re being watched wherever they are.
It’s not like they’d be pure decoys, though. The aerostats the Army wants would still perform “surveillance at 1000 feet above ground level.” But they’d also carry a decoy payload “simulating a surveillance system,” making it look like the blimps are more powerful than they are.
Of course, the military might soon have super-powerful blimps, these ones untethered to any base, for use in Afghanistan. The “Blue Devil,” seven times the size of the Goodyear Blimp, will carry a dozen sensors, all talking to each other through a supercomputer, and could be deployed by the fall. By 2012, Northop Grumman hopes to have its Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle floating at 20,000 feet above Afghanistan. That’s a blimp the size of a football field.
These are far more modest, a mere 15 feet in diameter. But you put enough of them in the air, visible to insurgents, and maybe the Taliban will feel like Rockwell in that ’80s video.
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