Politics

Congresswoman Applauds Death Of Funding For Army’s Rampaging Blimp

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The Army’s disastrous blimp surveillance program has been dealt a major blow through a newly released markup of the 2017 annual defense budget bill in the House, which drops funding from $45 million to just $2.5 million.

Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier, a noted critic of the program, applauded House Committee on Armed Services chairman GOP Rep. Mac Thornberry for his markup. Designed by Raytheon, the program’s full name is the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS). The Army requested $45 million to operate the missile detection system. Congress apparently disagreed with the request.

“I commend the Chairman for defunding JLENS as I have urged the committee repeatedly,” said Speier in a statement. “This isn’t the first time we’ve tried to kill this ‘zombie program’ – let’s hope it stays dead this time. I look forward to working with my colleagues to put this money to use protecting our nation, rather than sending it to float away on a path of destruction from Maryland to Pennsylvania.”

JLENS, the name of the top-secret $3 billion surveillance program, caught national attention in October, 2015, when residents in Maryland and Pennsylvania looked up to see that a gigantic, 240-foot blimp had broken off from its tether and crashed through power lines, leaving thousands without electricity. Two F-16s scrambled in response. State troopers deflated the blimp by firing at it.

Following the disaster, the Pentagon grounded JLENS while it conducted a three-month investigation. The blimp was finally allowed to fly again in February after it became clear the cause was a loss of air pressure in the tail fins. This in turn resulted from “a malfunctioning pressure sensing device called a pitot tube.”

At the time, Adm. Bill Gortney said he still supported JLENS.

“JLENS provides unique cruise-missile defense capability to our integrated air defense system for the National Capitol Region. It is in the best interest of the nation to continue the program. Investigators took a hard look at the causes of the incident, and I am confident that we have a plan of action to safely fly the aerostat again,” Gortney said.

A full draft of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017 is set to be released Monday.

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