What the hell is a Goodrich blimp?

Aarontology: Well that's a good use of money.

I imagine most of the money went towards the spy robots.

queezyweezel: Dirigible is such a fun word to say. Dirigible. Dirigible. Dirigible.

Oingo Boingo is more fun to say. Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo.

Link

queezyweezel

Dirigible is such a fun word to say. Dirigible. Dirigible. Dirigible.


Throw in a French pronunciation and it's chuckles aplenty.

Multi-Intelligence?
You mean they are making sentient blimps to roam the skies above us?


How long before the last remnants of human civilization move underground to escape our helium, . . .uh, . . overlords?

Sarah Conners said to be moving upwind at a reasonable pace.

Good rich?

No, the worst.

FTFA: "...should take to the air over Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first or second week of June."



Uh oh.

Arkanaut: Aarontology: Well that's a good use of money.

I imagine most of the money went towards the spy robots.

Most definitely.

That and the testing phases. I swear more R&D time is spent testing than designing these days.

2wolves: Helium futures are soaring. So to speak.

Fun fact. The US has been quietly selling off its helium reserves Link

Klaus Wulfenbach unavailable for comment.

meat0918: 2wolves: Helium futures are soaring. So to speak.

Fun fact. The US has been quietly selling off its helium reserves Link

So quietly that they've have a public mandate by the government to sell off the helium reserve at dirt cheap prices and has had the mandate for longer then half of you farkers have been alive.

phyrkrakr: FTFA: "...should take to the air over Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first or second week of June."

[upload.wikimedia.org image 260x198]

Uh oh.

75th anniversary passed about a month ago, I believe.

Rhypskallion: queezyweezel: Dirigible is such a fun word to say. Dirigible. Dirigible. Dirigible.

Oingo Boingo is more fun to say. Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo.

Gorrrrrrrrrn.

Farking Northrup Grumman is all over these money-sucking black holes.

I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

AA Gun to shoot it down

They should have tossed some of that money my way... I would have at least made it look cooler than whatever they made it look like.

AsprinBurn: I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

They're going to shoot the bullets down with missiles.

fluffy2097: meat0918: 2wolves: Helium futures are soaring. So to speak.

Fun fact. The US has been quietly selling off its helium reserves Link

So quietly that they've have a public mandate by the government to sell off the helium reserve at dirt cheap prices and has had the mandate for longer then half of you farkers have been alive.

As if anyone beyond farkers and conspiracy theorists have been paying attention.

Coworker conspiracy nutter told me about the helium. It's good for a laugh at least.

//Wait, that's Nitrous Oxide.

AsprinBurn: I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

Service Ceiling greater than 22,000 ft. MSL

Compare to, say, the SA-18 SAM:
Flight ceiling 3.5 km (11,000 ft)

It should be out of range of most of the shoulder launched ones, if not the mobile or fixed launchers.

the_sidewinder: Since we're all about the fun words in here:

Pickle-barrel, kumquat, chimmicherrychonga

Squeegee, pup tent, Rama-lama-ding-dong

If someone would just use an ounce of creativity.

Build some Zepplins and give it a bomb rack. Hovering over a target zone at 80k feet would give a wide area of application for the current generation of smart bomb, and if you used the narrow diameter model you could have something akin to an artillery barrage on call.

And the only possible name would be the Damocles class airship.

Theaetetus: AsprinBurn: I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

Service Ceiling greater than 22,000 ft. MSL

Compare to, say, the SA-18 SAM:
Flight ceiling 3.5 km (11,000 ft)

It should be out of range of most of the shoulder launched ones, if not the mobile or fixed launchers.

Yeah, but then all they have to do is scramble a few jets to blow them out of the sky I guess

AntonChigger: Theaetetus: AsprinBurn: I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

Service Ceiling greater than 22,000 ft. MSL

Compare to, say, the SA-18 SAM:
Flight ceiling 3.5 km (11,000 ft)

It should be out of range of most of the shoulder launched ones, if not the mobile or fixed launchers.

Yeah, but then all they have to do is scramble a few jets to blow them out of the sky I guess

The Taliban has lots of jets?

meat0918: Arkanaut: Aarontology: Well that's a good use of money.

I imagine most of the money went towards the spy robots.

Most definitely.

That and the testing phases. I swear more R&D time is spent testing than designing these days.

Hammers and toilet seats. Those are expensive.

What are they going to scramble again? When was the last time the US actually had to worry about air superiority? These are for parking over folks who can only shake their fists impotently at them while the civilian pilots hundreds of miles away laugh at and designate an air strike on top of them. It's probably a lot cheaper to do it this way than dedicated satellites or continuous air patrols - even with UAVs.

crossthread: the_sidewinder: Since we're all about the fun words in here:

Pickle-barrel, kumquat, chimmicherrychonga

Squeegee, pup tent, Rama-lama-ding-dong

Fi' Dollah! FI' DOLLAH!! FI' DOLLAH!!!

rohar: AntonChigger: Theaetetus: AsprinBurn: I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

Service Ceiling greater than 22,000 ft. MSL

Compare to, say, the SA-18 SAM:
Flight ceiling 3.5 km (11,000 ft)

It should be out of range of most of the shoulder launched ones, if not the mobile or fixed launchers.

Yeah, but then all they have to do is scramble a few jets to blow them out of the sky I guess

The Taliban has lots of jets?

I didn't read the article, is it only for watching militants like the taliban, or also for surveillance of more advanced nations as well?

AntonChigger: rohar: AntonChigger: Theaetetus: AsprinBurn: I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

Service Ceiling greater than 22,000 ft. MSL

Compare to, say, the SA-18 SAM:
Flight ceiling 3.5 km (11,000 ft)

It should be out of range of most of the shoulder launched ones, if not the mobile or fixed launchers.

Yeah, but then all they have to do is scramble a few jets to blow them out of the sky I guess

The Taliban has lots of jets?

I didn't read the article, is it only for watching militants like the taliban, or also for surveillance of more advanced nations as well?

Uh, we've got other toys for that. That said, "more advanced nations" is kindof a quickly changing idea in warfare. Iraq had one of the top 10-15 militaries in the world. They were kinda sent to the realm of ak-47s and IUDs in a hurry.

IEDs, damn, that Freudian slip was awkward.

FTFA Navy meanwhile grounded its much smaller MZ-3A research blimp for a lack of work until the Army paid to take it over

And this is why we can't have nice things.

rohar: The Taliban has drug runners, illegal aliens and pot farmers have lots of jets?

meat0918: fluffy2097: meat0918: 2wolves: Helium futures are soaring. So to speak.

Fun fact. The US has been quietly selling off its helium reserves Link

So quietly that they've have a public mandate by the government to sell off the helium reserve at dirt cheap prices and has had the mandate for longer then half of you farkers have been alive.

As if anyone beyond farkers and conspiracy theorists have been paying attention.

Coworker conspiracy nutter told me about the helium. It's good for a laugh at least.

//Wait, that's Nitrous Oxide.

The army is actually getting away from helium based lasers at its arsenals because the cost of helium is getting too high. It isn't some crazy conspiracy theory, there really is a shortage.

I wonder, if instead of Helium, you just used heated air. Put a bunch of solar cells on top of the blimp, wire them to heating elements in the air sacs, and just let the hot air hold you up, powered by the sun. Since you're above the clouds, you don't have to worry about weather events messing up your power source.

AsprinBurn: Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

In other words, it'll fly high enough to be immune to whatever caliber you have in your closet.

/The future: All of this stuff will probably be used against Americans one day.

Theaetetus: AsprinBurn: I get the low-cost-and-effective part, but how do they plan to keep them from being shot down? They seem both easy to hit, and easy to destroy, to me. Will they just be so high up that most countries won't have the hardware to knock them down?

Service Ceiling greater than 22,000 ft. MSL

Compare to, say, the SA-18 SAM:
Flight ceiling 3.5 km (11,000 ft)

It should be out of range of most of the shoulder launched ones, if not the mobile or fixed launchers.

Yeah, the flight ceiliing of the SA-20 is 98,000 feet.

TheGreatGazoo: Who's Congressional district are they being built in?

Just about all of them. NG has its fingers in every pie.
ICBMs (Yes, we still make them.)
Social Security and Medicare. Uh huh.
Building brand-new antique jets, in this case F-5 fighters.
And never mind the ongoing maintenance contracts for thousands of aircraft, including but not limited to the B-2 Spirit, AWACS, Global Hawk, F-18 Hornet, T-38, EA-6B Prowler, E-2 Hawkeye, C-2 Greyhound, not to mention air defense radar systems the world over, night vision equipment, and lots of electronics systems for other fighter and attack aircraft, and not just for the US and A, but many other countries. Criticize Northrup Grumman too loudly in the wrong place and you'll likely end up dead in a small airplane crash someplace. (Even if you never travel in a small airplane.)
Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing are the cornerstones of empire, like it or not. NG profit in 2011 was more than $2 billion.

WTF is a Goodrich blimp, subby?