Giant Eye in the Sky

Spy blimp. Seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? However, the US government is planning to give new meaning to the term...

The Pentagon is looking to spend $400 million to purchase a 450-foot-long dirigible to keep a constant eye on boats, planes and even people twelve miles below without interruption. Plans include a trajectory 65,000 feet above sea level and it should be more than 20 times the size of the Goodyear Blimp. Wow.

Announced last week, ISIS (Integrated Sensor Is the Structure) will be produced through an agreement between the Air Force and DARPA and will be able to focus in on a diameter hundreds of miles wide. According to officials, the military blimp will greatly improve reconnaissance abilities and enable constant monitoring of small movements in exceptionally large, open areas.

"It is constant surveillance, uninterrupted," Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force, said. "When you only have a short-time view -- whether it is a few hours or a few days -- that is not enough to put the picture together."

As the LA Times points out, this project represents a definite shift in Pentagon spending allocations and a push to improve military intelligence and surveillance operations -- while remaining sensitive to carbon emissions concerns and potential military dangers. Not visible to the naked eye, the unmanned aircraft won't be threatened by handheld missiles, most other surface-to-air missiles or many fighter jets. Plus, it will operate on hydrogen cells and solar panels and can stay in the air as long as ten years. Ten years!

While still many years from official release, if the initiative proves successful, ISIS could be just the beginning of an airship fleet! Amazing stuff.