By popular demand, I’d like to take a moment to answer the question “What is the Blue Devil program?” Well, it’s actually two completely separate programs. Blue Devil Block I is a fixed-wing aircraft based, multi-INT capability currently doing God’s work. Blue Devil Block II (which is the focus of this blog) is an unmanned airship-based, multi-INT, persistent surveillance capability still in development and slated for delivery in 2012. Aside from the name and the overarching multi-INT concept, Blue Devil Block I and Block II enjoy virtually no common components: different platforms, different sensors, different communications, different ground stations, different personnel, etc.
This is not to say that the programs are in any way redundant. Blue Devil Block II builds on the lessons learned from Block I in a manner that significantly advances theater ISR capabilities. But most importantly, given the substantially independent nature of the Block I and Block II efforts, both programs have different logos (see below). For the sake of clarity, we will be updating the Block II logo in the very near future to more clearly differentiate between the two programs…
Blue Devil Block II (left) and Blue Devil Block I (right)
