Officials: Military Blimp Breaks Loose, Drifts Over Pa.
WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) — An unmanned Army surveillance blimp broke loose from its ground tether at a military base in Maryland on Wednesday and drifted over central Pennsylvania as two Air Force fighter jets tracked it. The blimp's long tether snapped power lines, causing outages.
"We can confirm that the JLENS surveillance system aerostat is on the ground, it is deflated and located in the vicinity of Moreland Township, Pennsylvania. We understand that there's a contingency of Pennsylvania law enforcement officials that are securing the area," NORAD spokesperson Mike Kucharek told CBS 3.
JLENS is on the ground and located in the vicinity of Moreland Township, Penn. The area is secured and a military recovery team is enroute.
— NORAD & USNORTHCOM (@NoradNorthcom) October 28, 2015
Tonight, federal and state officials gathered near its crash site, some 180 miles from where it started its unplanned journey.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado said the blimp detached from its station at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, at about 12:20 p.m., and initially traveled north at an altitude of about 16,000 feet.
State police in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, confirmed they had been getting 911 calls about blimp sightings, but they could not provide additional details.
Witnesses reported seeing the blimp drifting between Jerseytown and Turbotville, a sparsely area north of Harrisburg. Its tether was snapping power lines.
CBS 3 spoke with Fisher Creasy by phone, who witnessed the blimp hovering above his school in Bloomsburg. He captured the moment on camera and his video has gone viral on social media.
"I see this giant white blimp and it's just floating on the other side of my school. So I take my phone out, make a little video and post it on Twitter, Facebook, whatever I had just so people could see what's going on. I saw it sinking down but I ended up going back inside, I didn't see where it went, where it landed, or if it did at all," said Creasy.
Bloomsburg University cancelled classes due to a power outage.
#BUAlert: Remaining classes for Wednesday, Oct 28, including evening classes, are cancelled. University is closed due to power outage.
— BloomsburgUniversity (@BloomsburgU) October 28, 2015
Power was later restored, according to the University.
A county official in northeastern Pennsylvania says the blimp on the loose over the state has caused widespread power outages.
Columbia County chief clerk Gail Kipp says the blimp is dragging its tether line, which is taking out power lines and causing widespread outages.
Residents around the county have been tweeting photos and video of the blimp seemingly getting lower and lower to the ground.
The blimp is the kind used extensively in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to provide ground surveillance around U.S. bases and other sensitive sites.
"My understanding is, from having seen these break loose in Afghanistan on a number of occasions, we could get it to descend and then we'll recover it and put it back up," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a brief exchange with reporters at the Pentagon. "This happens in bad weather."
Carter did not say what the two F-16 fighters tracking the runaway blimp might be asked to do or whether he considered it a threat to aviation.
The F-16s were launched from the Atlantic City Air National Guard Base in New Jersey, according to the NORAD statement.
FAA officials were working with the military to ensure air traffic safety.
The aircraft is known as a Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, and can be used as part of a missile defense system.
The Office of Governor Tom Wolf released the following statement regarding the untethered JLENS aerostat over Pennsylvania:
"The Governor's Office is in communication with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the Pennsylvania State Police, the National Guard, and the appropriate authorities with the federal government. We are closely monitoring the situation, and we will work with the appropriate authorities to respond to any resource requests and assist in any way possible."
It was not immediately clear how the blimp came loose.
For many, the rogue blimp was not just a welcomed distraction from the rain as across the Keystone state it dragged part of its tethering line, which knocked out power for some 27,000 customers throughout two counties.
State and federal officials plan to stay at the scene overnight. No word on when the wreckage will be removed.
(TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
