He's on it.

Someone needs to do a fast re-write of some Sabbath. That *might* make it sound cooler.

It also might make it the entire project sound like Weird Al.

Do I get to control the war blimps?

then I want it to follow me on the commute

"parking missiles"? where can I learn more.

I gotta say these would come in very handy against the dregs at Walmart.

Quick, to the Hindenpeter!

/laughs at your shiatty blimp.

War blimp? His name was John Candy, he was a funny guy and that's no way to speak of the dead.

100mph blimp? Is this a Popular Science article I'm reading?


/"Flying Cars: Right around the corner!"

Al Qaeda will counter with their giant flying squid. It's an offshoot from the Russian Giant Squid from Command and Conquer Red Alert. Game over, man. Game over.

I think the Germans pondered bombing London with a Zepplin in WWI, too lazy to research.

John Napkintosh: "parking missiles"? where can I learn more.

I gotta say these would come in very handy against the dregs at Walmart.

Dammit I want these! I would use 10 to 15 of these a day in my garage at work...

Until the late 1960's there were Nike missile installations armed with nuclear tipped ground-to-air missiles in defensive positions around many US cities.

/the blimp idea is even sillier

NIMAS (unless I get the launch codes too)

Voiceofreason01: Until the late 1960's there were Nike missile installations armed with nuclear tipped ground-to-air missiles in defensive positions around many US cities.

/the blimp idea is even sillier

We had one in my hometown, the abandoned base is still there. We use to drive up there (as the gate was always broken open) and hang out/party.

We even got inside the silo area once. Not sure who cracked the hatch but it was full of debris and there were puddles of water. Most of the electronics/machinery was gone. Shortly after this I heard the town/fed's came and filled it with dirt and a large amount of concrete to seal it up.

RepoManTSM: I think the Germans pondered bombing London with a Zepplin in WWI, too lazy to research.

Googled it real quick -- they did bomb England with Zeppelins, but damage was minimal, and a lot of them were lost. But I imagine if they were used in a support role today (observation platform with some weapons), in a theater where we already established air dominance, they can be very valuable. Time over target could be measured in days, or whenever the onboard pantry runs out of food / water. And you could have an onboard pantry! How great would that be?

Plus, if it's a blimp instead of a rigid airship like the zeppelin, that means you could deflate it, fly it to Afghanistan in a C-17, and have it operating inside of a day. I'm liking this idea more and more.

It's a rigid airship.

I hope they make the officer in charge of these a colonel.

Arkanaut: RepoManTSM: I think the Germans pondered bombing London with a Zepplin in WWI, too lazy to research.

Googled it real quick -- they did bomb England with Zeppelins, but damage was minimal, and a lot of them were lost. But I imagine if they were used in a support role today (observation platform with some weapons), in a theater where we already established air dominance, they can be very valuable. Time over target could be measured in days, or whenever the onboard pantry runs out of food / water. And you could have an onboard pantry! How great would that be?

Plus, if it's a blimp instead of a rigid airship like the zeppelin, that means you could deflate it, fly it to Afghanistan in a C-17, and have it operating inside of a day. I'm liking this idea more and more.

There've been rumors for decades that airships of one kind or another are being developed to orbit a battlefield at high altitude to provide recon, AWACs support or as communication relays but none of these ever seem to develop, my guess would be because the US military can already do all those things and the disadvantages of lighter-than-air craft are too great when you can have an AWACs, B-52, or drone do the same thing using in air refueling to provide longer loiter times as needed.

If "War Blimp" isn't already the name of a thrash metal band we need to immediately pass emergency federal legislation mandating that such a band be created immediately

Came for the 'Red Alert' references. leaving satisfied.

/'Kirov Reporting'

Missile Blimp is a great band name.

This sounds a lot like one of the nuclear powered aircraft proposals from the
1950s (before ICBMs became practical and reliable): the idea was to have a
nuclear plane that stayed aloft for months in a holding pattern over the ocean,
loaded with nukes ready to be sent into enemy airspace.

Voiceofreason01: Until the late 1960's there were Nike missile installations armed with nuclear tipped ground-to-air missiles in defensive positions around many US cities.

/the blimp idea is even sillier

Around DC most of the Nike sites are parks now.

"Hello? Airplanes? It's blimps calling. You win."

/War Blimp would be a great name for a band.

How high do they fly and what's the range of an average household firearm? I'd imagine these things getting shot down quite often.

We sure do have a shiat ton of ways to kill people these days. Guess it's time to add death by war blimp to the list.

Slaxl: How high do they fly and what's the range of an average household firearm? I'd imagine these things getting shot down quite often.

how would these affect the model rocket motor industry?

"Stroppy" is not a word.

2chris2: "Stroppy" is not a word.

Shows what you know. "Stroppy" is beyond cromlulent.

eximiously proven

groppet: Around DC most of the Nike sites are parks now.

around KC one has a school built over it, one has some of the original buildings and is being used as an airsoft park, one's a field and the other is a housing development. I'm not sure about the airsoft park but all the others have had the silo filled with concrete.

Slaxl: How high do they fly and what's the range of an average household firearm? I'd imagine these things getting shot down quite often.

They fly higher than that. Also a bullet or two isn't going to bring one down in any immediate timeframe.

These would be out of the range of even .50 cal rounds. What is the max range on one of those, something like 5-10kilometers?

Lighter than air vehicles can reach the edge of space.

Remember that even if one were only 3k up and you were a mere 4k from its location above the ground, that would be 5k between you and it.

kim jong-un: Slaxl: How high do they fly and what's the range of an average household firearm? I'd imagine these things getting shot down quite often.

They fly higher than that. Also a bullet or two isn't going to bring one down in any immediate timeframe.

These would be out of the range of even .50 cal rounds. What is the max range on one of those, something like 5-10kilometers?

Lighter than air vehicles can reach the edge of space.

Remember that even if one were only 3k up and you were a mere 4k from its location above the ground, that would be 5k between you and it.

Meh. Just build a weather balloon that releases an autonomous or steerable kamikaze glider.

Something like this, perhaps.

Yes because large blimps filled with explosive substances worked out pretty well in the past.

War Blimp should be the sequel to War Horse, he got back from the war and got FAT.

War blimp?

kim jong-un: Slaxl: How high do they fly and what's the range of an average household firearm? I'd imagine these things getting shot down quite often.

They fly higher than that. Also a bullet or two isn't going to bring one down in any immediate timeframe.

These would be out of the range of even .50 cal rounds. What is the max range on one of those, something like 5-10kilometers?

Lighter than air vehicles can reach the edge of space.

Remember that even if one were only 3k up and you were a mere 4k from its location above the ground, that would be 5k between you and it.

but an SA-2(one of the most widely deployed SAM systems) can hit targets as high as 66,000 ft at ranges up to 28miles(depending on the variant)

Our government sure is spending a lot of our tax dollars on new ways to keep us under their heel. They must be planning on pissing us off a lot really soon.

Slaxl: How high do they fly and what's the range of an average household firearm? I'd imagine these things getting shot down quite often.

*Threat Detected* ---
*assessing threat*---
Swissshhhh......BOOM!

*Threat Terminated*---
*Engaging Automated Repair Systems*---
*Damage from small arms fire repaired*---
*Re-Entering Surveillance Mode*

MOAR BLIMP FOR THE BLIMP GOD!!!

Voiceofreason01: kim jong-un: Slaxl: How high do they fly and what's the range of an average household firearm? I'd imagine these things getting shot down quite often.

They fly higher than that. Also a bullet or two isn't going to bring one down in any immediate timeframe.

These would be out of the range of even .50 cal rounds. What is the max range on one of those, something like 5-10kilometers?

Lighter than air vehicles can reach the edge of space.

Remember that even if one were only 3k up and you were a mere 4k from its location above the ground, that would be 5k between you and it.

but an SA-2(one of the most widely deployed SAM systems) can hit targets as high as 66,000 ft at ranges up to 28miles(depending on the variant)

Yea, but I don't think this is intended for use against enemies with active sam sites. Continuous coverage like this would be useful for monitoring captured/controlled cities and the countryside, not following the front line of an invasion. These would be sent in after the initial invasion is over, after we have air dominance plus by the time this is through testing and is being deployed, we may have anti-missile lasers deployed as well.