Has The Pentagon Blimp Program Been Scrapped? Major Funding Cut Could Signal End Of U.S. Army’s Unique Missile Surveillance

The Pentagon’s blimp surveillance program may be headed towards the hangar for permanent storage. With the newly released markup of the 2017 annual defense budget bill in the House drastically reducing funding, the blimp program may become stalled, if not shuttered completely.

The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee clearly indicated it doesn’t want the United States to continue funding the Pentagon’s troubled $2.8 billion program, which relies on blimps fitted with sensitive radar that continually look out for enemy missiles approaching the East Coast. While the Army had requisitioned for $45 million, the Congress has dropped the figure down to a mere $2.5 million. It is apparent the Congress doesn’t want the blimps to continue hovering in the skies, especially after a string of major mishaps and setbacks the program has witnessed in recent times.

Prepared by GOP Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services, the markup indicates the Congress is willing to authorize only $2.5 million next year, or 6 percent of the $45.5 million sought by President Barack Obama to sustain the Pentagon’s blimp program, reported MSN. Additionally, Senate Republican and Democratic leaders had flatly refused a request Defense Secretary Ashton Carter made for reallocation of funds to the blimp program. Carter had suggested diverting around $27.2 million from another defense program to keep the blimps operational.

If the budget cuts are approved and the Congress continues to financially strangle the project, the Pentagon simply won’t have sufficient funds to send the blimps back in the skies over Washington and surrounding areas from a base at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Applauding the markup that would certainly kill the project, Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier said the following.

“I commend the Chairman for defunding JLENS as I have urged the committee repeatedly. This isn’t the first time we’ve tried to kill this ‘zombie program’ – let’s hope it stays dead this time. I look forward to working with my colleagues to put this money to use protecting our nation, rather than sending it to float away on a path of destruction from Maryland to Pennsylvania.”

The project is the brainchild of Raytheon, and it’s officially called the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), reported Daily Caller. It is one of the most ambitious projects of the Pentagon. The program consists of a couple of huge blimps that float in the sky. These unmanned blimps are fitted with advanced and sensitive radar equipment, meant to bolster early warning systems. The blimps are critical to the integrated air defense system, Adm. Bill Gortney had said.

“JLENS provides unique cruise-missile defense capability to our integrated air defense system for the National Capitol Region. It is in the best interest of the nation to continue the program. Investigators took a hard look at the causes of the incident, and I am confident that we have a plan of action to safely fly the aerostat again.”

Speier and Gortney were referring to a huge debacle involving one of the blimps that had broken loose from its permanent tether. Residents in Maryland and Pennsylvania saw the huge white blimp wandering aimlessly in the skies before crashing through power lines, leaving thousands without electricity. Two F-16s had to be scrambled to monitor the wayward blimp, while state troopers finally brought the blimp down by deflating it. The troopers resorted to firing shotgun pellets to puncture the blimp.

Md. congressman says no way to reinstating Pentagon blimp program after crash #JLENS https://t.co/9JxLAN1Ea9 pic.twitter.com/vtWRJjIJU3

— WTOP (@WTOP) March 13, 2016

This isn’t an isolated incident. The Pentagon’s blimp program suffered a very similar incident in 2010. Such disasters seriously questioned the efficacy and viability of the program, which suffered from cost increases and performance issues, as well. Shockingly, the Pentagon’s blimp surveillance program has been in development for almost 20 years, but still, the Army had to securely moor the blimps to a permanent tether, reported Politico.

[Photo by Ronald Sellinger/Getty Images]