Global Security Newswire

A senior U.S. defense official last week praised the High-Altitude Airship and described the program as the “most exciting” cruise missile defense system on the table, Defense Week reported today (see GSN, Sept. 30).

Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, said Thursday that he was at first skeptical about using airships for missile defense, but he has learned more about the idea and has grown to like it.

Although they could one day be supplanted by satellites, according to Eberhart, the airships offer a viable interim method of detecting small, fast and low-flying cruise missiles. Under the current concept, the airships would be about 500 feet long and 160 feet in diameter, 25 times larger than the blimps seen at athletic events, Defense Week reported. Hovering at 65,000 feet, the airships would be able to cover a large expanse of territory and provide missile defense systems with a longer warning time, Eberhart said (Donnelly/Laurenzo, Defense Week, Oct. 6).

The Air Force Research Laboratory is also planning to demonstrate a mirror that would be attached to the airship and used to relay ground-based lasers toward over-the-horizon targets (see GSN, July 25). Pentagon planners have budgeted about $30 million over three years to complete the demonstration, Space & Missile reported (Space & Missile, Oct. 6).