WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2006-01-17 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[I am fascinated by airships. Look at this innovative use in the USA. Jan]
Defense Industry Daily
Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in Akron, OH received a $149.2 million cost-reimbursable contract to build and demonstrate the technical feasibility and military utility of the High Altitude Airship (HAA).
The HAA will be a a 500-foot-long, unmanned, radar-carrying surveillance blimp that will detect and track incoming ballistic missiles as they approach U.S. coastal regions. The blimp will hover above the jet stream at an altitude of 65,000 feet for months at a time and will also have the ability to detect low-flying missiles that may have slipped underneath ground-based radars. Once operational, it will be an important early-detection element of the broader U.S. missile defense architecture. It may also act as a weather surveyor and telecom relay.
There are a number of challenges associated with an effort of this nature.
Solar cells and an advanced fuel cells that can deliver up to 500 kW must be developed to power the craft. An aerodynamic design and a control system must be developed to help keep the airship steady amid the high winds at that altitude, without consuming excessive power. Another important factor is determining how the airship would react to changing temperatures as the sun rises and sets every day, heating and cooling the helium. Then there’s the major challenge of finding materials for the airship’s skin that are capable of withstanding the extreme ultraviolet radiation at such high altitudes for extended periods without becoming brittle.
Lockheed Martin received its first production contract for a lighter-than-air vehicle, the rigid USS Akron airship, in 1928 from the U.S. Navy. For the High Altitude Airship program, Lockheed has previously received a $2 million contract for preliminary concept work, followed by a $40 million design and risk reduction contract in late September 2003.
Under this latest demonstration contract, Lockheed Martin will develop an unmanned and untethered prototype airship with the requirement of remaining on station for one continuous month at a nominal cruise altitude. This prototype vehicle will also have a minimum payload capacity of 500 pounds with 3 kW of power, as opposed to the operational HAA which will have a payload of 4,000 pounds (about 1,800 kg).
Dave Kier, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and managing director for missile defense, told C4SI Journal that an operational version of the airship would have a volume of about 5.3 million cubic feet, about 25 times the volume of the Goodyear blimps. It would stay aloft at up to 70,000 feet in excess of three months at a time. Preliminary specifications call for the operational payload to consist of a forward/upward-looking radar for ballistic missile tracking and discrimination problem, plus a look-down radar for ocean/land surveillance capability.
Kier says Lockheed Martin hopes to keep the unit cost of the operational airship at roughly $50-60 million before its advanced radars, sensors et. al. are installed. If so, its long endurance would give it operating costs in the tens of dollars per pound per hour, as opposed to aircraft or even satellites whose comparable costs are in the thousands of dollars.
The Missile Defense Agency issued this contract (HQ0006-06-C-0001), and eventually plans to deploy approximately 10 blimps to provide overlapping coverage of U.S. coastal regions. The principal place of performance will be at Lockheed Martin’s “Airdock” facility in Akron, OH, which is 1,175 feet long, 325 feet wide and 211 feet high.
Completion of this HAA contract is expected by November 2010, with a hoped-for first flight in 2009.
Additional Readings
(149) DefenseTech has more information today re: this story.
(149) Claremont Institute, MissileThreat.com – High Altitude Airship
(149) GlobalSecurity.org – High Altitude Airship (HAA). Describes the evolution of the technology, and some of the challenges.
(149) Lockheed Martin – High Altitude Airship
(149) C4SI Journal (Jan 10/05) – Protoype Airship to Fly in 2009.
(149) Science Daily (Apr 1/05) – Purdue Team To Float High-altitude Airship For Weather, Security. The problem they’re working on has a great deal of overlap with the HAA,and this article deals with many of the technical issues they’re grappling with.
(149) Space Daily (Sept 30/03) – Lockheed Martin To Develop High Altitude Airship for Missile Defense
(Originally posted Dec 12/05; Last modified Jan 16/05 due to additional information from Lockheed)
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/01/lockheed-wins-1492m-contract-for-high-altitude-airship-updated/index.php