High Speed Chase, Wait A Second We Are In A Blimp!!!

While biking to school the other day I came across an interesting spectacle: two blimps in a line, one behind the other. I was thinking, "Wow! That’s the first time I have every seen two blimps at the same time," and then I thought, "Cool! An intense blimp chase." I could just see James Bond hanging out of the windows and firing at the other blimp, and then I thought, "Wow, what a stupid high-speed getaway vehicle." But of course, what if you have a ton of slow speed aircrafts just waiting to get picked off by enemies who hardly have to aim (missing a blimp is like missing a shot at the wall of a barn from inside the barn). But than again you always come across the great brainchild of some idiotic person and then you get this:

Am I missing something here? This just looks to stupid, and to make it even dumber I came across a lovely piece of information.

And here it is:

Army buys $12M in blimps for Iraq

WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is buying 16 tactical blimps for use in Iraq from a Columbia, Md., company, TCOM, L.P. announced Tuesday.

The deal is worth $12 million, and the unmanned, tethered blimps will be built in Elizabeth City, N.C.

The Tactical Aerostat System operates at about 1,000 feet, providing surveillance and a communications relay system aloft for up to a week at a time.

The contract award is part of the Rapid Aerostat Initial Development system contract the Army has with Raytheon.

The airship's use was demonstrated last fall over Washington, when an A-170 manned blimp hovered over the city for 24 hours. The helium-based blimp can fly for hours even if pierced by small arms fire, according to the Army.

TCOM blimps are also being used by the Marine Airborne Re-Transmission System, a program developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to extend Marine radio communication beyond line-of-sight in Iraq.

The blimp provides an airborne relay for UHF, VHF, SINCGARS and EPLPRS radios, in addition to standard analog radios. The actual relays are contained in a ground system. If the aerostat were shot down, the radios would not be compromised.

I even found a picture of a concept blimp that is being tested now that has been designed to move 500 tons 12,000 miles in less than 7 days, and do you know that they call it (pause for dramatic effect)…The Walrus:
Wow the pig on the side really adds to the intense fear I feel when I look at this. In fact I think I need to go put on a change of pants, so if you will excuse me.