First Army Airship Flight Lacked Sensor Package

When the Army’s 300-foot airship slowly lifted off on its first flight from the historic former Navy dirigible and blimp base in Lakehurst, N.J., on Tuesday, it lacked an essential payload -- the sensor package intended to eyeball bad guys in Afghanistan when the airship starts operation in that country.

John Cummings, a spokesman for the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said it will take a few more test flights before the hybrid airship, the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle developed by Northrop Grumman, floats around with the sensor package, but he did not provide a date.

An Army press release Wednesday said the sensors will be packed into a “Murphy Bay” on the LEMV, a phrase that stumped both John and me, though he kindly offered to do a Google Search for me.

I did my own and thanks to a fine piece by Eric Schecter at Defense News discovered that “Murphy Bay” honors U.S. Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, a Medal of Honor recipient killed in 2005 in Afghanistan while leading a SEAL team on a reconnaissance mission.

Eight years after that mission, the only guaranteed way to conduct 24/7 reconnaissance in Afghanistan is by putting troops on the ground -- a mission the LEMV, which can stay aloft for 21 days, can take over when and if it gets there.