UPDATED, 4:12 p.m. ET, to reflect blimp's current whereabouts.
If you are on the east coast of the U.S., you were warned to alert 911 if you saw a giant military blimp in the air and told not to take it down yourself -- but that's all over now.
On Wednesday afternoon, a military surveillance blimp detached from its tether at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and floated toward Pennsylvania, where two fighter jets monitored it until it was secured on the ground.
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According to a statement from the North American Aeropsace Defense Command, the 243-foot long Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) blimp broke loose at about 12:20 p.m. ET.
NORAD statement on unmanned military blimp that detached from its mooring and is now floating free; F-16s launched pic.twitter.com/7I34yHoKgC— Dan Linden (@DanLinden) October 28, 2015
The blimp was said to be close to the ground at around 3 p.m. local time in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where its cables have dragged and taken out power lines, causing widespread outages. Administrators cancelled classes at Bloomsburg University until 4 p.m. There have not yet been reports of any injuries.
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State police confirmed to Associated Press that the blimp was on the ground and secure by approximately 4 p.m. local time. NORAD confirmed shortly after that the blimp was on the ground "in the vicinity of Moreland Township, Pennsylvania," and "the area is secured and a military recovery team is en route."
Navy Capt. Scott Miller, a representative from NORAD, told AP that officials did not deliberately deflate the blimp, and that it "grounded itself." Miller also told AP that it is unclear why the blimp deflated as it was descending.
Here is the #blimp well part of it...in a tree near Muncy @WNEP pic.twitter.com/epkaSuFsxj— Nikki Krize (@NikkiKrize) October 28, 2015
BLIMP DOWN: State Police report #blimp is down in Montour county near Muncy. We got this photo from viewer there. pic.twitter.com/9vXuAwJA1Z— Jon Meyer (@JonMeyerWNEP) October 28, 2015
The JLENS blimp, built by Raytheon, can detect and track objects like missiles, and provide 360-degrees of defensive radar coverage. The blimp poses a danger to civilian aircraft, thought it should show up on radar.
"How JLENS became untethered is unclear," Daniel Wasserbly and Geoff Fein of IHS Jane's Defence Weekly said in a statement. The Raytheon website states, however: "The chance of that happening is very small because the tether is made of Vectran and has withstood storms in excess of 100 knots (185 km/h). However, in the unlikely event it does happen, there are a number of procedures and systems in place which are designed to bring the aerostat down in a safe manner."
"JLENS is strategically emplaced to help defend Washington D.C. and a Texas-sized portion of the East Coast from cruise missiles, drones and hostile aircraft," Dave Gulla, vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' Global Integrated Sensors business, said in a press release last year. "JLENS can detect potential threats at extremely long ranges, giving North American Aerospace Defense Command more time to make decisions and more space to react appropriately."
The U.S. government has spent $2.7 billion on the JLENS system over the last 17 years, with a per blimp cost at around $180 million, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
The blimp from @USAGAPG has come off its tether. If you see it on the ground, call 911. Here's what it looks like. pic.twitter.com/mRHhpJdfHU— Joppa-Magnolia VFC (@jmvfc8) October 28, 2015
Weather conditions at nearby Martin State Airport in Maryland had consisted of light rain for the past few hours, with winds that pushed the blimp northwest to Pennsylvania.
"TWO F-16'S FROM NEW JERSEY ARE TRACKING THE BLIMP" pic.twitter.com/N4N0JvPt0q— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) October 28, 2015
As the blimp rose, it encountered strong winds from the southwest of up to 70 to 80 miles per hour, though by 3:15 p.m., North American Aerospace Defense Command had confirmed via Twitter that the blimp had "descended near the ground" before it was trapped by law enforcement.
However, its adventures will live on via Twitter.
pic.twitter.com/w1aUK3TzEO— Spooky Slaughter (@DustinSlaughter) October 28, 2015
I think I found that NORAD blimp. Looks like it's been doing some soul-searching. pic.twitter.com/AVQomjPekd— Halloween Gaskarth (@AlexAllTimeLow) October 28, 2015
I may have combined audio from the Boston Fish guy with video of the NORAD blimp in PA. (nsfw language) pic.twitter.com/0zVhgM5Or1— Joe CasaBOOna (@jcasabona) October 28, 2015
@Snowden "Runaway surveillance blimp" is the perfect metaphor for the military/intelligence industrial complex. And the perfect mascot.— Dan Roosien (@droosien) October 28, 2015
Apparent second confirmation that mass surveillance leads to unauthorized travel. pic.twitter.com/O6LZsoKTjD— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 28, 2015
@mashable It's hard out here for a blimp.— E M (@emaehl) October 28, 2015
Additional reporting by Andrew Freedman.