The U.S. military has become fascinated with potential new uses for blimps--to spy on potential adversaries, transmit conversations and maybe even haul helicopters or Humvees one day.

The Air Force and the Army are working on a classified project to use new combinations of surveillance aircraft and other sensors, along with intelligence on the ground, to try to detect and counter the increasingly deadly ambushes against American forces in Iraq.

Military researchers are looking into deploying sensor-laden blimps to hover over regions (like Washington D.C.) to provide constant surveillance for the homeland security mission.