It seems the Pentagon has gotten wind of my master plan to re-create satelloons, the giant, inflated satellites with the integrated reflective communications capability, and they're trying to beat me to the punch with a $400 million, 450-foot-long, inflated surveillance "airship" which would operate for up to 10 years at an altitude of 65,000 feet:
The Air Force has signed an agreement with DARPA to develop a demonstration dirigible by 2014. The prototype will be a third as long as the planned surveillance craft -- known as ISIS, for Integrated Sensor Is the Structure, because the radar system will be built into the structure of the ship.Uh, shouldn't that be ISITS? Who names these things? Isn't including "is" in your acronym cheating, like using all monosyllabic words in your haiku? But whatever, 150-foot prototype!
