Rogue Blimp Attacks Pennsylvania!

A 243-foot-long helium-filled blimp broke its tether and escaped from Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland last Wednesday and, chased by F-16 fighters, snapped some power lines before it went to ground 160 miles away in a ravine in Montour County, Pennsylvania. The $175 million surveillance “aerostat” was finally subdued by Pennsylvania state troopers with shotguns, and it’s being dismantled with chainsaws.

The pricey gasbag was part of the $2.7 billion Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System or JLENS, produced by Ratheon for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Two of these tethered aerostat platforms floated 10,000 in the air, protecting the airspace over Washington, DC from hostile aircraft, but they missed that Florida gyrocopter that landed on the Capitol lawn in April.

Santa Sighting: Japan & Korea

Across the International Date Line, Santa was sighted over Asian rooftops. NORAD continues to track  Santa’s flight, and you can monitor it here. Google even shows you Santa’s Dashboard.

Related: 

“Why Did NORAD Start Tracking Santa?” Matt Soniak, Mental Floss

“Santa’s journey differs on Google, Microsoft trackers,” Craig Timberg and Hayley Tsukayama, Washington Post

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