USA: Military surveillance blimp goes AWOL

A military surveillance blimp was spotted over Moreland Township, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, after breaking loose from its anchorage at the US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground research facility in Baltimore, Maryland earlier the same day. The blimp was followed by 2 F-16 fighter jets for monitoring, but it reportedly kept flying at the same height. According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the 70 m (ft 230) long and 24 m (ft 79) blimp which has a tare weight of 3,200 kg (ft 7,050) is dangerous, as it has a 2,000 m (ft 6560) long cable attached to it. The Pentagon gave a statement on the blimp saying that they will bring it down, but did explain how. The device might contain secret data that it collects through an onboard radar as it is used by the US military to look out for hostile ships, planes, drones and cruise missiles. The runaway blimp is part of the JLENS, or Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System. The Pentagon has spent reportedly 2.7 billon dollars (€ 2.5 billion) on the the JLENS, which was started in the 1990s. There were originally 16 blimps planned to be manufactured, but only 2 got built are still in test phase.