Despite widespread but incorrect reports of a “military blimp” on the loose, the JLENS balloon that broke free from its tether is not a blimp.
A blimp is a powered, steerable lighter-than-air vessel. JLENS is an aerostat; a tethered balloon that is neither powered nor steerable.
Like any other helium balloon, if the string breaks, it just floats away.
The headlines are simply wrong.
Airships, Dirigibles, Zeppelins, & Blimps: What’s the Difference?
I guess accuracy in news reporting has taken a distant back seat to sensationalism and political opinion. Calling this thing a blimp is like calling a 787 a kite.
Just get enough wind and it will be a kite just like this 747:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHhZwvdRR5c
Or this 747 in a typhoon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKAptEdVnfk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uym4ePeGuW0
🙂 🙂
Not the first time this has happened:
http://nextimpulsesports.com/2014/04/28/budweisers-giant-goal-light-blimp-loose-canada/
Another occasion for juvenile journalism:
http://gawker.com/gigantic-unmanned-military-blimp-on-the-loose-outside-b-1739217483
Then I overheard one of our younger engineers make a remark about “flammable helium”. . .
They should use this as an impetus to kill the program once and for all. It has been nothing but a waste of money and an embarrassment for LTA, even though it barely qualifies as such.