Military Blimp Grounded in Pennsylvania: Officials

The runaway blimp has stopped moving after taking off from its home base of Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and flying more than 170 miles, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

At 4:25 p.m., NORAD reported that the airship was on the ground near Moreland Township, Pa., and a military recovery team was on the way to the scene.

They airship landed near trees, according to WNEP.

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Reports began coming in at 3 p.m. that the blimp had landed outside Bloomsburg, Pa., but officials gave word that instead it had come close to the ground.

The runaway blimp was one of two that NORAD launched over the past year to detect missiles, drones and rockets.

From their perch at 10,000 feet above sea level, they are intended to look watch for threats from New York to North Carolina to Ohio.

The aerostats, as they are officially called, have been likened to two giant goldfish crackers hovering in the sky north of Baltimore. One of the helium-filled airships went airborne in late December, and the second aerostat got its wings in August.

It was the most recently launched blimp that escaped its mooring, according to officials from Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG).

The aerostat was anchored to a cement pad in the Edgewood area by a tether, which broke at 11:54 a.m. on Wednesday, APG officials said.

By the afternoon, the blimp was “still aloft and moving toward Pennsylvania,” APG officials reported.

Two F-16 fighter jets from the New Jersey National Guard were tracking the blimp, according to CNN.

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Aberdeen Proving Ground released this statement Wednesday afternoon:

“Personnel are responding to a tether break at the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Netted Sensor System (JLENS) location on the Edgewood side of APG.

“The aerostat moored at Edgewood broke free at around 11:54 a.m.; approximately 6,700 feet of tether are attached. Emergency personnel are tracking the aerostat, which is still aloft and moving toward Pennsylvania.

“Anyone who sees the aerostat is advised to contact 911 immediately; people are warned to keep a safe distance from the airship and tether as contact with them may present significant danger.”

The aerostat program has come under scrutiny after a recent investigation by the Tribune Publishing Company, which claimed that $2.7 billion in funding for the project was shepherded through the system, amid considerable opposition, by a defense official who has since retired and been on the payroll for the company that made the airships.