Claims of damage done by wayward Army blimp top $300,000
A view from Fairview Road in Montour County of part of the JLENS blimp that crashed Wednesday afternoon. The remote spot is located between Lewisburg and Muncy. Oct. 28, 2015. James Robinson, PennLive.com
James Robinson | jrobinson@pennlive.com
on December 28, 2015 at 3:29 PM, updated December 28, 2015 at 6:34 PM
WASHINGTON — The Army says it has received 12 claims for approximately $305,000 worth of damage attributed to a wayward blimp that came down in Montour County in late October.
Spokesman Dov Schwartz said Monday he cannot disclose the nature of the claims.
The list does not include a claim PPL has said it anticipates filing to recover the cost of restoring power to 35,000 customers in Columbia, Montour and Schuylkill counties.
Those who incurred damage from the blimp or its tether have two years from the date of the incident, Oct. 28, to file a claim.
What caused the blimp to become detached at the Aberdeen Provide Grounds in Maryland remains under investigation.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey said he has been advised by the Pentagon he will be provided details when the investigation is completed.
He and fellow Republican, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta whose district includes Harrisburg, asked the Army to be kept informed on the investigation.
The 243-foot-long blimp, or aerostat, part of the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), was hovering about 6,600 feet in the air when its tether detached.
The blimp and dangling tether floated over central Pennsylvania before it came down in a rural area in western Montour County. The Army has estimated the loss of the blimp at $180 million.
The aerostat was in a three-year operational exercise to assess its ability to contribute to cruise missile defense, explained spokeswoman Maj. Beth R. Smith.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command has suspended the exercise pending the outcome of the investigation into what caused the blimp to become detached, she said. It also has grounded a second aerostat the Army tethered in August at Aberdeen, she said.
JLENS is a supporting program of the Army and Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense, providing persistent, over-the-horizon radar surveillance and fire control quality data.
Its mission includes providing protection to the national's capital from a wide variety of threats including manned and unmanned aircraft, cruise missiles and surface moving targets like swarming boats and tanks.
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