US Army's controversial 'all seeing' surveillance blimps get go-ahead to guard against cruise missi

Source: Independent

US Army's controversial 'all seeing' surveillance blimps get go-ahead to guard against cruise missiles - and can spot objects as small as a person 340 MILES away

Blimps can offer '360 degree 24/7 surveillance for 30 days at a time'
Powerful radar allows them to spot objects 340 miles away
One blimp will hover over Army property in Maryland
Another being kept in reserve for emergency use
Maker Raytheon to begin selling the blimps
Privacy advocates worry they will be fitted with cameras to track individual people's movements

By Mark Prigg
Published: 15:36 EST, 25 June 2014 | Updated: 15:37 EST, 25 June 2014


Controversial surveillance blimps that can spot a person 340 miles away have been unveiled by military firm Raytheon.

It boasts the project can offer '360 degree 24/7 surveillance for 30 days at a time' - and revealed the US Army has already bought two.

One is being trialled over Maryland, with the other being kept in 'strategic reserve'.

'By putting JLENS in strategic reserve, the Army is giving combatant commanders around the globe the ability to pick up the phone and, in short order, receive this incredible air defense capability in their area of responsibility, said Raytheon's Dave Gulla, vice president of Integrated Defense Systems' Global Integrated Sensors business area.

The system is called JLENS -- or Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System -- which is composed of an integrated radar system on two tethered, 80-yard blimps.







Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2669839/Privacy-fears-mount-Pentagons-seeing-surveillance-blimps-ahead-operational-use-guard-against-cruise-missiles.html#ixzz35h3AGljy