Back in the 80’s the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was proposed by President Reagan. SDI was called Star Wars in the mainstream media. Obama is taking us back to 1930’s/1940’s technology with the Hindenburg Coastal Defense Boondoggle. Any reports of missing cruise missiles from the Benghazi Arms Depot?
Via Baltimore Sun
When the weather’s good, a strange speck will be visible on the Baltimore skyline: a giant balloon the Army is floating high above Middle River to scan for cruise missiles.
The balloon — technically an aerostat because it’s tethered to the ground — is expected to launch Saturday. It’s one of a pair planned for the skies over Maryland to test sensors that can detect and train fire on cruise missiles from hundreds of miles away.
They’re aimed at filling what some military officials see as a gap in U.S. air defenses. But the program has been beleaguered by shrinking budgets and opposition from privacy advocates, who warn that the balloons could be transformed into ever-present eyes in the sky, watching the movements of everyone for miles around.
Aberdeen is hosting the balloons for a three-year test. Officials stress they will not carry cameras.
The Army showed off the first helium-filled balloon last week at an Aberdeen Proving Ground annex. The gleaming white, 80-yard-long inflatable hovered just above a wide patch of gravel, where it was free to swing about in the breeze.
At the briefing, Capt. Matt Villa, a planning officer with the Army, attempted to assuage concerns.
“I can’t stress enough there are absolutely no cameras or video equipment on board … the system,” Villa said. “Its radars cannot detect people, it does not store information … it has no weapons on board.”[…]
Defense officials originally wanted to field as many as 16 of the balloon pairs. But after costs spiked, the program was scaled back, and the pair above Maryland now look to be the only ones in operation.