MORELAND TOWNSHIP, Pa., Oct. 28 (UPI) — A prototype U.S. Army surveillance airship that broke free, unmanned, from its mooring in Maryland steadily went down and ultimately crash-landed in central Pennsylvania Wednesday afternoon — after it was pursued for hours by a pair of fighter jets, officials said.
The Army’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) aerostat had somehow broke away from its tether at the Aberdeen Proving Ground just before 12:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday.
The Air Force deployed two F-16s to track the aircraft. Officials from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it had coordinated with the FAA and the Air National Guard to recover the aircraft and keep it away from other aircraft.
Before it finally crashed into a grouping of trees, the blimp caused a power outage in Pennsylvania for about 20,000 people. Officials said the airship’s tether, a 6,700-foot-long cable that dangled below, struck power lines as it floated by.
The blimp steadily lost helium as it traveled, officials said, until it finally went down in Moreland Township, Pa., about three hours after it broke free in Maryland. It traveled about 150 miles and its tail section detached from the aircraft shortly before it went down.
“It came down quite naturally as it began to lose helium,” NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said. “We are hearing no reports of injuries, so we are grateful. It could have been a lot worse.”
Pennsylvania authorities closed off the crash site so that none of the 7,000-pound ship’s high-tech radar and electronic equipment were compromised, a Homeland Security official said.
The blimp is part of a $2.8 billion Defense Department program to counter enemy drones and cruise missiles that may threaten the U.S. East Coast.
Pentagon officials have said the JLENS program is in a three-year testing phase to gauge its effectiveness, despite concerns raised from privacy advocates. The Army launched the prototype airship in December.
At Aberdeen Proving Ground the blimp is tethered and carried by a 242-foot balloon. The Raytheon-built aircraft is capable of monitoring objects up to 340 miles away in any direction.
Defense officials have defended the program, saying there is no dedicated system to protect the American homeland against missile or rogue aircraft attacks.
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