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Blackhorse -> RE: OT-Giant Army Blimps? (2/14/2013 4:12:37 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: guytipton41
quote:
ORIGINAL: crsutton
Pretty cool. I have always loved blimps but never have really understood how they are feasible given any sort of moderate to high wind. I mean try to carry around an inflatable mattress in a high wind. Perhaps the low air density at high altitudes makes it less severe but I just don't get the physics.
Hi CRS,
We had an aerostat above Camp Victory in Baghdad and I don't recall it every being winched down even for bad windstorms. But I was only there for a month or so. The major use for this one was LOS radio relay for convoy comm.
Cheers,
Guy
I was in Baghdad/ Iraq for much of 2005. You are correct - the aerostats stayed up through sandstorms and all weathers.
In terms of protecting my hide, I thought the most valuable use was the telemetry for artillery tracking. Before the blimps went up, the insurgents would, from time to tome, set up a mortar or a rocket launcher in one of the maze of nearby neighborhoods and lob several rounds into the "green zone." After the telemetry was airborne, the insurgents learned to 'shoot and scoot' -- generally firing one round, then abandoning the mortar, or firing it off the bed of a pickup truck and driving away. Our guys could have counter-battery fire underway, or helicopters vectored to the launch site, before the first round landed.
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