Defense News reports that “the US military has invested billions in blimp-like aircraft to track militants planting roadside bombs but the spyship experiment is losing altitude because of technical failures and changing priorities.”

“The lighter-than-air projects were billed as an innovative revival of an old aircraft design to conduct “unblinking” surveillance on the battlefield — at a fraction of the cost of fuel-guzzling planes or helicopters.”

“The Pentagon invested $7 billion in airship programs between 2007 and 2012, but the funding has mostly dried up amid budget cuts and embarrassing setbacks.”