Blimp see everything

[No.1]

To better coordinate intelligence-gathering and speed its flow to ground troops, the U.S. Air Force plans a huge, 350 ft long blimp loaded with up to a dozen different sensors and a supercomputer. Cruising at 20,000 ft for as long as a week, the airship will carry the wide-area airborne surveillance system (WAAS) — an array of a dozen or more cameras to cover every inch of the ground within a 2 1/2 mile radius. The supercomputer will process 300 terabytes per hour to crunch the mountains of acquired data and dramatically reduce the required capacity of air-to-ground data links.



More about http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/all-seeing-blimp/

[Nico Braas]

Seems new idea of old concept!
One small problem: how do you defend this huge monster against enemy aircraft and missiles?
At 6000 m it even seems a sitting duck for enemy groundfire.

[Second Air Force]

Yes, I wonder that too. It could be just like the airplane versus observation balloon situation in the First World War, except the "sausage" is unmanned now.

[Nico Braas]

Enemy drones against unmanned dirigible?? WW III update on WW I!

[No.1]

I guess it is options against enemy without aviation, like in Afghanistan

[Profa]

Throwing the money away, if you ask me...
Germans did the same thing in 1939, reemploying Zeppelin in order to find out what those big steel towers at the English seashore are, but didn't find anything useful