Not so long ago it seemed that the golden age of giant lumbering airships had gone down with the Hindenberg, consigned to less spectacular roles in research, advertising and as a great camera platform above sporting events... but they're making a comeback. Lighter-than-air aircraft are returning to passenger carrying roles in tourism and in recent years we've seen a new-generation of airships put forward as a cargo-lifting solution (DARPA's now seemingly shelved Walrus Project) and even as a corporate air yacht (Aeroscraft ML866). Now the U.S. Army is moving quickly to build a hybrid airship weapons system that will act as a long-duration UAV – a very big, long duration UAV. The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) will be longer than a football field and stay aloft at altitudes of 20,000 feet for more than three weeks at a time providing an "unblinking eye" for surveillance and reconnaissance.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a US$517 million contract to develop the massive airship and present it for military assessment in just 18 months. The company is developing the LEMV to plug straight into the the Army's existing ground command centers and will provide flight and ground control operations. According to the company release, the LEMV will "operate within national and international airspace" from "austere operating locations using beyond-line-of-sight command and control."
"This opportunity leverages our longstanding leadership positions in developing innovative unmanned air vehicles, C4ISR weapon systems, and leading edge systems integration, and moves Northrop Grumman into this rapidly emerging market space of airships for the military and homeland defense arenas," said Gary Ervin, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector.
Northrop Grumman is partnering with Hybrid Air Vehicles, Warwick Mills, ILC Dover, AAI Corporation and SAIC on the project.
This LEMV contract for the US Army is great news for any lighter than air fan who wants to see a return of big airships. It is very good they have chosen Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) in Cardington England to design and build the first prototype airship in the old hangar that was used by the R101. The HAV design team are the same folks that were behind the Skyship 600, Sentinel 1000 and AT10 blimps that were a big success.
If you want to see more on modern airships, past, present and future see: www.airshipblimp.com or if you just want a helium sniffing laugh try www.airship.me the worlds only lighter than air comedy site, with lots of funny pictures and U tube links fit for all the family.
Regards Bond, James Bond.
(Skyship blimp pilot in a View to a Kill)
I wonder, since airships are comparably slow and this one in particular is very large, wouldnt that make it an easy target?
perhaps the most realistic obstacle is that they have to be designed to be robust at high altitutude so that they can cover a large radius and be high up enough in the atmosphere to be remote from rockets and cheap missiles/airplanes, as well as storms. also, they need to be able to remain aloft for extended periods, meaning they must deploy efficient fuel cells or use solar/wind power to charge their batteries. either way, that could be what\'s holding this up.
Grunchy... satellites are hi-res, but they are not a persistent platform because they need to keep moving to stay in orbit. Not very useful for real-time threat detection. Many companies are working to develop LTA platforms, such as Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Check them out.
I have changed my domain names as follows:
Airship & Blimp Consultant: www.hybridairship.net
Gasbags comedy site: www.hybridblimp.net
Circumnavigation proposal: www.blimpingaround.com
Regards JB