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This giant military spy blimp is really hard to miss
What's this spy blimp doing next to an 18-wheeler? We're not entirely sure, but it's certainly not being subtle about it. This jumbo-sized floater, codenamed "Blue Devil Block 2," measures some 370 feet in length and comprises a whopping 1.4 million cubic feet. Originally inflated in September, the definitely-not-blue Blue Devil took flight for the first time last week in North Carolina and, if all goes to plan, should head to Afghanistan by the middle of next year. The Air Force says the blimp will hover above the country for five days at a time, collecting surveillance data from 20,000 feet above the ground and transmitting its findings to US intelligence officers on the ground, via laser. When that's taken care of, it'll be used to make the biggest omelette ever.
Lockheed Martin's SMSS autonomous vehicle wins Army competition, ships off to Afghanistan (video)
The US military's fleet of unmanned vehicles may soon get some extra support, now that Lockheed Martin's Squad Mission Support System (SMSS) has received the Army's official blessing. Designed to support infantry squads or special ops forces, the company's autonomous craft was recently crowned the winner of the Army-sponsored Project Workhorse Unmanned Ground Vehicle competition, after more than a decade of development. Measuring 11 feet in length, the SMSS is capable of transporting more than 1,000 pounds of equipment over rugged terrain, and features a set of onboard sensors that can automatically track individuals by recognizing their 3D profiles. Both the SMSS and its Block I variant can be carried aboard CH-47 and CH-53 choppers, with the latter offering a driving range of 125 miles. Three of the beasts will deploy to Afghanistan for a three-month evaluation later this year, when they'll become the largest unmanned vehicles to ever deploy with infantry. Shoot past the break for a video tour of the SMSS, along with the full press release.
US Air Force enlists super blimp for Blue Devil surveillance initiative
Way back in September 2009, we reported on an omnipotent war blimp from Lockheed Martin, now it looks like a similar dirigible could be hovering 20,000 feet above Afghanistan by this fall. (It's not clear whether or not the two blimps are one and the same, but Lockheed's craft was slated for an Afghan debut in 2011.) As part of the $211 million Blue Devil initiative, the US Air Force plans to pack the bloated beast -- which sports seven times the carrying capacity of the Goodyear blimp -- with up to a dozen interchangeable sensors and a supercomputer for processing data. It will then hover for stints as long as a week, collecting, assessing, and relaying important surveillance data to ground troops in a matter of seconds. It's a tall order, but Air Force officials hope that an on-board wide-area airborne surveillance system (WAAS), which uses 96 cameras to generate nearly 275TB of data every hour, and a supercomputer hosting the equivalent of 2,000 single-core servers will fit the bill. The aircraft isn't complete quite yet, but barring unforeseen obstacles, like a run-in with a giant needle, it should be up in the air starting October 15th. For more on Blue Devil check out our links below.
