By Dion Nissenbaum
WASHINGTON--The U.S. Army has quietly shelved development of a
secretive, football-field-sized surveillance blimp amid concerns
about the cost and reliability of the project, once slated for use
in Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.
Touted as a high-tech eye in the sky that would provide U.S.
troops with life-saving intelligence, the airship ran into military
resistance and development problems that undermined the $517
million program, according to congressional and military
sources.
Military officials said that the contractors, Northrop Grumman
Corp. (NOC) and Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited, had not yet been
notified about the future of the project. Officials at Northrop
Grumman declined to comment until the company receives formal word
from the Army.
Military officials said that the project could still be
resurrected, but warned that tight budgets and the escalating
withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan made the aircraft less
desirable for the Army.
Officially known as the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence
Vehicle, or LEMV, the 300-foot airship was meant to carry up to
2,500 pounds of sensitive surveillance equipment far above the
battlefields of Afghanistan for weeks at a time.
The blimp was supposed to provide troops with everything from
live video of militants to recordings of clandestine telephone
conversations.
The program was developed under intense secrecy. The military
and contractors didn't release any photographs of the craft until
last August when they conducted the airship's first test flight in
Lakehurst, N.J.
But that 90-minute flight, captured by amateur videographers,
proved to be the one and only test flight for the craft.
Developers ran into problems synchronizing data, producing
fabric for the craft and securing parts from overseas suppliers,
officials said. The craft was also 12,000 pounds over its expected
weight, reducing its high-altitude airtime from more than two weeks
to as little as four days, according to a U.S. Government
Accountability Office study released last October.
Developers reduced its recommended operating altitude from
20,000 feet to 16,000 feet, which was supposed to allow the
aircraft to operate for up to 16 days.
Despite the problems, some in the military said the Army
shouldn't rush to end the program. "I personally think it's a bad
decision," said one defense official. "Let's not be too quick to
walk away."
As of late last year, the military had spent more than $275
million on the project. Once completed, the program was to deliver
three of the surveillance craft for the Army.
(Julian E. Barnes contributed to this report.)
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