DARPA, Air Force develop hydrogen-powered spy blimp
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 16th 2009 10:02PM
posted March 16th 2009 10:02PM
The Air Force has announced that it will do its part for economic stimulus by spending $400 million on a dirigible designed to float 65,000 feet above the Earth, where it will provide constant surveillance of an area (such as the Afghanistan-Pakistan border). ISIS (Integrated Sensor Is the Structure) is being billed as a cross between a satellite and a spy plane, kept aloft by helium and powered by hydrogen fuel cells that are recharged with solar panels. The thing will remain in place for up to ten years providing, as one Air Force scientist gushed, "constant surveillance, uninterrupted." If successful, the Air Force would like to see a whole fleet of these things. DARPA has signed on, agreeing to deliver a prototype by 2014.
Hindenburg 2.0
My thoughts exactly.
doubtful, considering the hindenburg had highly a highly flammable covering or paint (i forget exactly) and was inflated with hydrogen. helium doesnt burn though.
Very misleading title.
Pop.
New World Order, anyone?
What it could focus on....
A Girl
War
Cool dude smoking
..and colorful pants?
beware
Actually, the "cool dude smoking" is Andrew Dice Clay, which means this spy blimp would only be useful if it had Hellfire missiles.
A very cool idea until Superman or the space shuttle smashes into one.
@iamanidiot240
I think you mean thermite.
Truly, truly outrageous
hmmm. even at 65,000 ft. you could still SEE it. not to mention its radar signature.
nowhere does this article say how big the blimp is. at 30000 feet a 747 (231 feet long) looks tiny. if this blimp is at more than double that height and considerably smaller, i doubt that you will spot it in the sky.
go ahead though, prove me wrong with your eagle-eye vision
correction: it will be 150 feet. so its smaller than a jumbo-jet, and more than double the height. good luck shooting it down, let alone seeing it
Correction: the prototype will be 150ft the actual blimp will be 450ft.
Am I reading the picture incorrectly or are you blind, peter?
It clearly says the prototype is 150 ft. and the finished model 450 ft. ...
Why is our tax money going towards this? Blimps???? I tough we should be moving ahead in technology, not backwards. And who cares if you can/can't see it. A radar system could. One SAM could take this baby out.
DARPA, stick to UAVs and Satellites and small robotic insect death machines.
aaaaannd this created 2 jobs
Technically it created three jobs. Someone had to make the graphic.
4 jobs.... for the guy that will try to shoot it down.
2 jobs? by republicans standards that's a steal for only 400 million.
lol j/ks im not even American dont particularly like either parties, 400 million for this? r u guys fucking serious? How about you use the economic stimulus appropriately and not in something that will make you jobs now and then sit in a airfield in the future... Honestly, Pakistan will blow this thing out of the sky... let alone your big competitors Iran and Russia.
because thats the point of a stimulus dipshit. create more demand through government intervention (ie more jobs create more demand which creates more jobs and demand etc etc)
@lowdef try reading through my whole post next time dipwhore. Wow
oh fc it your too stupid to read through it again ill take out the appropriate sentence.
"not in something that will make you jobs now and then sit in an airfield in the future"
Blimp's are pretty much useless these days when they have produced this what next? a lighter faster version? should have done something with Jet Fighters, seeing as Russia's SU-37 will blow anything US made out of the sky.
oh ye, i said it bitch.
seriously, they expect one of those to stay in the air for 10 years? if i saw that over my air space i would shoot it down in an instant
I don't think many nations besides the one deploying this have the capability to shoot it down at that altitude.
Yea? YOUR AIRSPACE?
how did you buy it?
And if you did shoot it you wold have 10 black SUV's and 10 black choppers haul your ass away and you would never be seen again.
Terrorist.
Is that like China's right to the south china sea?
russia, china and the states have all managed to shoot down targets in space in the last 20 years so i'm sure some countries could still manage
iamanidiot is one of those people who likes to brag about his zombie holocaust-preparedness.
@iGoon
Well you see, airspace is the space above a country. So if Russia shoots it down over their country, that's fine.
Also, it'd think it be really hard to fit Russia in an SUV or a helicopter.
AT&T Get a few of these, strap some repeaters, and get rid of your spotty coverage!
Great place to put Cheney and Bush; inside a hot air balloon for 10 years.
wow... get over it, any Hoover / Curtis cracks while you're living in the past?
Two war criminals one blimp!
Imagine how much you could make streaming that video. Who do you think would eat the other first?
OH THE HUMANITY!
beat me to it.
OH THE HUGE MANATEE!
OH THE HUGE MAN TITTY
Thats what she said
man that mom of yours.. she's somethin
Good job Air Force, but where are the rest of the branches?
The Navy should at least do their part with creating jobs and focus on building-penguin shaped submarines.
DICE MAN!!! HOW YOU DOIN?
I'm quite disturbed that only one Engadget reader recognizes the Dice. The kids nowadays probably haven't even heard of Falco!
Amadaeus Amadaeus Amadaeus
Why the hell would we need to spy on DICE?!?!?!?
Dr. Zeus, Dr. Zeus, Dr. Zeus!
That is one half assed illustration of built in radar
It's a stealth radar, duh.
I'm sure this'll never be used by the gov against its own citizens, the very ones who worked hard to pay for this with their tax dollars.
It's for the greater good, really.
WAR IS PEACE
If it wasn't March 16, I would say "April Fools".
Virtually every nation on earth we care about looking at has an air force that could take this out. Most of them have access to SAM's. The Soviets took down the U2 traveling at MACH 3 at 65000 feet back in the early 60's.
We already look down on the US from space with resolution high enough to see a zit on your face, Hello Google Earth!!!
Frankly, I don't get it.....