The runaway blimp’s journey to Pennsylvania last fall may have made national headlines, but it did not garner the military aerostat any love in Congress, it seems.
The House Armed Services Committee chairman’s mark of the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill slashed funding for the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, known as JLENS, to just $2.5 million, significantly less than the $45 million the president requested.
“I commend the chairman for defunding JLENS as I have urged the committee repeatedly,” Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said in a statement. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to put this money to use protecting our nation, rather than sending it to float away on a path of destruction from Maryland to Pennsylvania.”
The full draft National Defense Authorization Act is expected to be released on Monday.
The military aerostat, which is about the length of a football field, broke loose from its mooring at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland in October, prompting two armed F-16s to scramble.
The blimp finally landed in Montour County, Pennsylvania, after hours of dragging “several thousand feet” of its tether more than 100 miles through the mid-Atlantic region, leaving thousands of people without power as it wiped out power lines.
The blimp was one of two at the Maryland Army base designed to spot missiles or other aerial threats from more than 300 miles away. Officials stressed that even without the sensors, the D.C. area is still well protected.
Both blimps were grounded during a three-month Defense Department investigation, but were cleared to fly again in February.
