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Controversial surveillance blimps that can spot a person 340 miles away have been unveiled by military firm Raytheon.

It boasts the project can offer ’360 degree 24/7 surveillance for 30 days at a time’ – and revealed the US Army has already bought two.

One is being trialled over Maryland, with the other being kept in ‘strategic reserve’.

‘By putting JLENS in strategic reserve, the Army is giving combatant commanders around the globe the ability to pick up the phone and, in short order, receive this incredible air defense capability in their area of responsibility, said Raytheon’s Dave Gulla, vice president of Integrated Defense Systems’ Global Integrated Sensors business area.

The system is called JLENS — or Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System — which is composed of an integrated radar system on two tethered, 80-yard blimps.

The blimps fly at altitudes of 10,000 feet above sea level and remain aloft and operational for 30 days, enabling the use of defensive measures against cruise missiles, low-flying manned and unmanned aircraft, and moving surface vehicles such as boats, mobile missile launchers and tanks.

Threats can be detected from as far as 340 miles away.

The Maryland systtem can detect missiles from Boston to North Carolina on the coast and as far inland as Lake Erie, according to the Washington Post.

Raytheon, which makes the craft, advertises them as useful for 24/7 surveillance.

https://www.trunews.com/privacy-fears-mount-pentagons-seeing-surveillance-blimps-get-go-ahead/