Sen. Daniel Inouye is urging the Defense Department to press forward with a giant spy blimp to be deployed over Afghanistan, according to Wired’s Danger Room.

The magazine published a February 2012 letter it obtained in which Inouye and Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., call the Blue Devil Block 2 program a “much needed capability” for the region.

Wired reports that development of the spy blimp was being fast tracked to the tune of $211 million — and that it would cost $188 million per year to operate — but that the Air Force scrapped all spending for the project in its most recent budget since the blimp is “too rich for a Pentagon that’s supposed to be watching its pennies.”

Wired reporter Noah Shactman is decidedly critical of the project, billing it as the latest in a string of “batty” defense ideas by Inouye and Cochran. (He also refers to H-3 as a “military highway to nowhere,” an oft-repeated criticism of the costly highway but arguably an unfair one.)

We’re waiting to hear back from Inouye’s office for reaction to the story. What do you think of the blimp idea? Do you want your tax dollars to help pay for it?