Massive Military Blimp Becomes Untethered And Floats Away, Fighter Jets Scrambled

Two fighter jets have been scrambled to track and possible shoot down the surveillance blimp as a last resort, a military spokesman said.

JLENS blimp.

Raytheon / Via raytheon.com

A massive surveillance blimp became untethered from its moorings in Maryland on Wednesday, prompting the U.S. military to scramble two fighter jets to track the aircraft as it floats unmanned over the Northeast.

The JLENS blimp somehow became untethered at about 12:20 p.m. ET and was last spotted above Pennsylvania at about 1:15 p.m., said Michael Kucharek, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The blimp was last seen traveling northeast at an altitude of about 16,000 feet, he added.

Military officials were in the process of evaluating a wide range of options for how to address what Kucharek described as an unprecedented incident.

Two F-16 fighter jets had been scrambled out of Atlantic City should it become necessary to shoot the blimp down, although Kucharek said that would most likely be a last resort.

"We've got to really think this through," he told BuzzFeed News.

According to the blimp's manufacturer, Raytheon, the blimp takes to the air via helium filled aerostats, "each nearly as long as a football field." The blimps carry powerful radars that can "protect a territory roughly the size of Texas from airborne threats."

The blimp is one year into a three-year surveillance exercise without recording an incident, Kucharek said.

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