Northrop Grumman wins contract to build US Army's long-endurance hybrid airship
By Laura June 
posted June 21st 2010 12:11PM
posted June 21st 2010 12:11PM
posted June 21st 2010 12:11PM
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Kirov reporting
@marmaduke
HAHAHA it looks like a frog.. :)
@uckApple
Why would the military want this...?
*Sir, there are incoming threats coming from the west*
-moment of silence-
-POP-
*DAMMIT THEY POPPED OUT 517 MILLION DOLLAR BLIMP*
@marmaduke Oh the humanity
@marmaduke
http://www.timeofwar.com/persos/yssan/Images/AR/kirov_2.jpg
@marmaduke I'm pleased they chose an American company, that makes me happy.
@uckApple
It looks like a flying butt.
@glennS
Indeed...such an odd design, can spin it so many ways with that look lol
Soldier: "Captain, multiple enemy forces spotted on the ground..."
Captain: "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!"
@marmaduke
bombing bays ready
@uckApple
You can't "pop" an airship. A blimp maybe, but not a rigid airship.
History Fact: Germany didn't lose any ships to sub attack that were escorted by airship. They were a fantastic observational/weapons platform that performed much more effectively than the fighter planes buzzing around.
@JamesR
*Historical Fact*
Spirit of Adventure.
@thisisit
nope, a house and 100,000 balloons will provide the same result.
@glennS if only military personell were that kind. I'm guessing something like "god's camel toe" but it's likely to be something even more creative.
@EnGadGetz Yeah, just watch the movie UP.
@uckApple The Taliban has warplanes now?
@shortax
That really does make a nice fat target in the sky. A man with a decent sniper rifle could take that thing down. Forget military duties. I think it would make a cool short hop mode of air transportation in the U.S.
@MosesusedaniPad
Goodyear brings its blimp in a few times a year to patch all the bullet holes it gets while traveling around the US.
@shortax
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8444/8385.jpg
anyone else hear the jingle in there heads when they saw this...
@MosesusedaniPad
A sniper rifle shot at 20,000 feet? Are you joking? You wouldn't be able to see the thing, much less get a bullet to go four miles straight up..
@looselycoupled
I'm sure he was referencing all the attacks from the Red Barron not a sniper rifle.. lol
@MosesusedaniPad
it is flying at 20,000 feet. a sniper rifle or even a shoulder launch missile will not be able to hit this thing. It will have near zero heat and radar signature, and be practically invisible. It can carry 2,500 pounds of equipment and weapons, so I am also guessing it will also be equipped with electronic warfare and AWACS equipment. it will be near impossible to find and target.
@JamesR
I just bust out laughing picturing a 35mph blimp trying to dive bomb a 34mph submarine.
@jms
Sounds like a large Protoss Observer.
@uckApple - So they would have the worlds 1st ballistic flying camel toe.
20,000 miles?
@bobfromguam
34 mph?
@bobfromguam
20,000 ft according to the source
@bobfromguam
Lol thought the same thing. 20k miles would be about a 12th of the way to the moon :P
Now THAT would be worth $517 million.
@bobfromguam
I saw that too... Who needs the Space Shuttle when we could just use Blimps :P
Quite the typo.
@skola28
Its strange because who the hell writes a typo as long as "20,000 miles above sea level" without noticing it?
@uckApple Laura June, clearly.
@bobfromguam 2500lbs? I know it's just for surveillance, but that doesn't seem like a lot of weight.
@bobfromguam
34mph at 20k Miles above Sea level. That'll totally storm across the sky...O_O
@bobfromguam
The original article got the 20,000ft right. She just typed miles instead of ft.
@GregH
2500lbs of payload, not total weight...
@tikigawd I know; still doesn't seem like much. The elevator at my office can carry more weight.
@GregH - It can carry more, it just can't carry more at 20,000 ft up. It could probably carry 15,000 lbs or so if it stayed at say 3,000 feet. It's just the physics of it.
We shouldn't even be over there in 2011...
*sigh. :|
We shouldn't be in Iraq, but Afghanistan still has afew Hajii in their ratholes and we gotta smoke em out. Semper Fi!
BTW, "2011" is little more than 6 months away, so no shit we'd still be there, crybaby.
@DefusedHero
Chalk up another half billion dollar win to osama while he spends $100 on a c4 charge.
Only need one ied every week or so to keep us spending other peoples money and rack up unpayable debt.
It's ridiculous
@Mister Warmth
You mean the same ones the CIA trained in the first place? *golf clap*
@Hobsie
Yeah those ones, with left over munitions the CIA gave em
@Cy Starkman I blame Charlie Wilson.
@KAL326 Dear Sir, Charlie Wilson did what he believed was necessary in getting the Russian out and stop carpet bombing the country with mines. He also told the government that we needed to help them reconstruct the infrastructure and get a stable government in there. He was denied.
They spent a few billion assisting in that war and then told him he couldn't have a fraction of that to help them rebuild. He warned them that the situation we are in now would eventually happen if we didn't.
We left the impression to them that we used them for our purposes and when done just left them to rot.
Oh and the guy who said there a few Hajis left to get I wonder if you've ever been to Afghanistan like I have. If you did then you would know that Haji is actually a term of respect in a good portion of the country.
@Cy Starkman
Is it bad that I read your comment as "Chalk up another half billion dollar win to obama while he spends $100 on a c4 charge."
Whoops.
I'm wondering how they got round the problem of the ship zapping all over the sky like a released balloon if it gets shot?
@TC its an airSHIP aka has engines and such LOL so it moves via its own power its not a balloon it an airship