'Eyes in the sky' for homeland security

Brock N. Meeks Chief Washington correspondent • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON - Blimps, they’re the next big thing in homeland security.

You’re laughing. 

That’s okay, a lot of people do, says George Spyrou, president of Airship Management Services, whose blimps are leased to the likes of Fuji Film and have been used as air surveillance and security platforms by the New York Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the Athens police during last year’s summer Olympic Games.

Although blimps have proven their worth in various security environments from the Super Bowl to presidential conventions, the huge airships aren’t widely deployed because they suffer from bad public relations.

“It’s a perception problem going right back to the Hindenburg disaster when she blew up in 1937,” Spyrou said.  “The perception is that an airship is unsafe." But that's not true, he says. "They are filled with helium, not hydrogen.”

“And then there’s the ‘giggle factor.’  People think it’s just a balloon or it’s great over the Super Bowl, but not as a serious tool for homeland security… it’s viewed as sort of a slow, you know, balloon.”

Those perceptions are no joke to airship manufacturers and to military and federal agencies that have been looking at reviving their use.  Airship advocates say they are cheaper than satellites and more feasible as long term surveillance platforms.

Military heritage
Unmanned aerial vehicles, from airships to stationary balloons--called aerostats—have a long history of use by the military.  The most well-established lighter-than-air program now in use is a series of aerostats along the southern U.S. border. These 208 foot long balloons resemble mini-blimps without the gondola.  Unmanned, they are unblinking eyes-in-the-sky used for drug interdiction. They are able to detect targets out to 230 miles and stay aloft for months.

The war on terrorism has been a god-send for unmanned aerial vehicle deployment.  U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq employ more than 14 types of remote controlled vehicles, from the deadly Predator, which can fire a Hellfire missile, to the four-pound, hand launched Raven used by the Army for over-the-hill recon missions.  UAV’s in Iraq and Afghanistan have flown more than 100,000 hours.

Now, the Department of Defense plans to spend $1.7 billion in research and development on 79 projects through 2009 for UAV development, including developing a six-ounce “micro” flying vehicle called WASP. Some of those technologies will eventually transfer to the civil sector, particularly for use in homeland security. 

Technology transfers
“DoD is helping civil authorities recognize opportunities to leverage our considerable investment in research, development, test, and evaluation to address critical homeland security technology needs,” said Peter Verga, deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security.  Among the technology transfers is DoD assistance to the Coast Guard to evaluate “high-altitude, long-endurance lighter than air ships” for conducting wide area surveillance to “detect, identify and track vessels of interest,” Verga said.

The Air National Guard has suggested using airships domestically to create 500-mile “buffer zones” offshore.  “These approaches to our mainland do not have the level of real-time surveillance we believe is required to detect and interdict threats,” Maj. General John Love told a congressional panel last year.

The DoD’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap, released earlier this month, notes that the Department of Homeland Security is evaluating several UAV, as well for border security, Coast Guard and maritime missions, transportation security and protection of critical infrastructure.

Meanwhile backers of traditional airships insist that blimps can be deployed more cost effectively and efficiently than some methods currently being used.

“With an airship you can hover and vector people in,” said Nicholas Susner, CEO of Science & Technology International, a Hawaii-based defense contractor that has put on several real world airship demonstrations for federal, state and local officials.  “A helicopter can only stay on station for a short period of time,” Susner noted.  “With an airship we can stay on station for 24 hours and not lose sight of something, which is extraordinarily important.”

Airships are a “very benign presence,” Spyrou said, noting how quiet they are.  “People see it but it doesn’t really intrude, it’s just the Goodyear blimp or the Fuji blimp, it’s ‘hiding in plain sight’ as New York Police Department officials like to say,” he said.

Beyond the perception problem, cost is a hurdle, despite the fact that an airship is about 24 times less expensive than operating a helicopter, the current choice of aerial surveillance for state and local law enforcement, according to Susner.

And compared to satellites, which can cost $150 million or more, Spyrou said his company leases blimps for $350,000 to $400,000 per month.

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