He said that officials noticed there was still helium in the nose on Thursday morning, so they chose to shoot it with a shot gun, which Pennsylvania State Police did.
Advertisement
An unmanned Army surveillance blimp floats through the air while dragging a tether line just south of Millville, Pa., Wednesday, October 28, 2015.
The craft covered about 150 miles over its three hour journey, before it came down near Muncy, a small town about 80 miles north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The giant helium-filled JLENS aerostat somehow came untethered at about 12:20 p.m. ET Wednesday at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and ascended from 6,600 feet to 16,000 feet prior to deflating and beginning its slow return to ground near Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The NORAD blimp is all part of a almost 3 billion dollar military project based out of Aberdeen, Maryland.
When in use, it is tethered to the ground, unmanned, like a balloon on a string, its cable carrying power up to the blimp and sending data back down to a computer.
The incident was far less well received by military officials, who scrambled two armed F-16 fighters to tail the blimp as it made its way northwards.
The Associated Press reported that Michael Negard, spokesman for the Army Combat Readiness Center, said a two-member accident-investigation team from Fort Rucker, Ala., was dispatched to the site. He said the probe is considered Class A, a label applied to an event that might have caused at least $2 million in property damage; involved a destroyed, missing or abandoned Army aircraft or missile; or caused injury.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters the blimps have broken loose before in Afghanistan.
Very sensitive electronics onboard have been removed, Villa said.
Miller, the spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the tail portion broke off and hit the ground about a quarter-mile from the main section.
Villa says the “hows and whys” of what happened are under investigation. Villa said that there is a ravine near the heavily wooded area where the blimp landed, which is not helping matters.
Still, the blimp caused problems for the people below as it dragged a length of tether and knocked out power lines.
Advertisement
The Pentagon says that two F16 jets from the New Jersey National Guard are tracking the blimp, although there’s been no word yet on when the military will make its move to bring the floating monstrosity down from the skies.
