The Cable

The Cable goes inside the foreign policy machine, from Foggy Bottom to Turtle Bay, the White House to Embassy Row.

The Military Lost Control of a Massive Blimp and May Need to Shoot it Down

A giant military blimp is on the loose in the skies over Pennsylvania.

jlens
jlens

A giant military blimp is on the loose in the skies over Pennsylvania. The Air Force has already scrambled F-16s to shoot it down. No, seriously.

A giant military blimp is on the loose in the skies over Pennsylvania. The Air Force has already scrambled F-16s to shoot it down. No, seriously.

The 240-foot blimp is part of a $2.7 billion U.S. Army program already infamous for going way over budget and for the array of technological shortcomings that slowed its development. Pentagon officials have talked for years about killing the program. Now they may literally blow one out of the skies.

Two F-16 fighter jets from the New Jersey Air National Guard have been tracking the blimp after it came untethered from its moorings at a base near Baltimore. It’s currently floating about 16,000 feet above northern Pennsylvania at a speed of 30 miles per hour. The blimp is also reportedly pulling approximately 6,700 feet of cable behind it.

According to the Pentagon, the blimp — which had been tethered at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland since December 2014 — broke free from its mooring station at about 12:20 p.m. on Wednesday. The Raytheon-built system had been installed there to keep its 360-degree radar scanning the skies around Washington, D.C., for cruise-missile threats.

Photo credit: John Hamilton/WSMR Public Affairs

More from Foreign Policy

Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.
Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War

Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests

And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.