Gunshots help deflate runaway military blimp in Pennsylvania

[Eugene]

Source: CBS/AP

CBS/AP October 29, 2015, 2:52 PM

Gunshots help deflate runaway military blimp in Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA -- Pennsylvania law enforcement on Thursday used small arms fire to deflate the unmanned runaway Army blimp that broke loose from its ground tether at a military base in Maryland on Wednesday, a Pentagon spokesperson said.

It was deflated because there were fears it could be grabbed by the winds and take off again, the spokesperson said. The blimp is now fully deflated.

The blimp drifted over central Pennsylvania as two Air Force fighter jets tracked it. It was grounded in central Pennsylvania.

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CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported on Wednesday that National Guard helicopters were scrambled along the blimp's projected route to secure the crash site and all of the technology on board the blimp when it finally came down.

A Pentagon spokesperson told Martin on Thursday the blimp is a fire control blimp, not the surveillance blimp that was originally reported.

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Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gunshots-deflate-runaway-military-blimp-in-pennsylvania/

[Warpy]

1. The Pentagon should have just kept its collective trap shut

because now they've convinced people they're incapable of telling the truth, ever.

I knew that thing would be downed by small arms, I just expected rural hunters to do the job when the power blew during some sports thing on ESPN.

[PoliticAverse]

2. They should have just went with the "it was a weather balloon" explanation. n/t

[doc03]

3. Shooting into the air is not a very safe practice

but luckily nobody was hurt.

[doc03]

4. They should have called Tom Brady n/t