Monday, August 27, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
No Commitments to Build any Airships from Arctic Workshop
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like any companies made any deals to fund airship projects for Alaska at this years workshop (Source.) Everyone who attended the meeting agreed that Airships were an ideal solution for many of the problems facing Alaska's transportation network, however no one seemed willing to spend money to fund airship projects in-order to address these issues, and no big announcements were made.
It seems to me that the fundamental problem here is the economic situation. It's simply not a good time to make risky investments, and airships are undoubtedly a risky investment. This is very unfortunate, because although the technology has come a long way and is now ready for wide spread use, the economic situation has the potential to keep this technology from taking off.
If the economic situation doesn't improve soon, not only will it increase the likelihood that airships will never get off the ground, but we could be headed for a complete and utter economic meltdown, which wouldn't be good for anyone. Lets keep our fingers crossed and our minds focused on the prize, hopefully this will all blow over real soon.
It seems to me that the fundamental problem here is the economic situation. It's simply not a good time to make risky investments, and airships are undoubtedly a risky investment. This is very unfortunate, because although the technology has come a long way and is now ready for wide spread use, the economic situation has the potential to keep this technology from taking off.
If the economic situation doesn't improve soon, not only will it increase the likelihood that airships will never get off the ground, but we could be headed for a complete and utter economic meltdown, which wouldn't be good for anyone. Lets keep our fingers crossed and our minds focused on the prize, hopefully this will all blow over real soon.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Alaskan Airship workshop this week
This week Alaska will yet again host a workshop for the development of Airships to haul cargo in the undeveloped northern regine.
This workshop will be critical to the devlopment and widespread useage of Airship technology in the future as it is an area of the world where there seems to be no other practical form of transportation other then airships for delivering cargo. If Airships can't get a foothold in Alaska then they cannot get a foothold anywhere and this would surely be detrimental to the future of Airships.
Lets hope we hear some real good news out of this workshop by the end of the week. Once a good ideas time has come, it usually doesn't go away.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
World Airship Race
CNN just did a story on a possible world airship race, The idea is to race blimps around the world. If we are truly at the dawn of the next Golden Age of Airships, maybe this could become an annual thing?
The Battle Blimp
Commenter jjames129 inquired as to why I think Hybrid Airships would be a better replacement for Helicopters in combat missions. I have actually been thinking about this topic for some time, as I have a passion for aviation technology both on and off the battlefield.
LEMV is really anything but ideal for combat missions. My feeling in my earlyer post was that if LEMV "somehow" got used in a combat extraction mission, as in, that was the only option at the time to save some Marines, and that it "somehow" proved that it was better at combat then helicopters, this would prove the concept of a "Battle Blimp" definitively. That's a rather unlikely scenario, but if it happened the military would probably order a small fleet of hybrid airships designed specifically for combat missions, which in turn would help bring down the price of Airships and usher in another golden age of airships that man has only dreamed about over the centuries.
However the reality is that LEMV is not ideal for these kinds of missions because it's not made for combat, but what if the military developed a true Battle Blimp? A Hybrid Airship designed to go head to head with tanks, airplanes, helicopters, infantry, you name it. What would this type of airship look like?
My idea is that an Airship like this would be based off Lockheed Martin's SkyTug design, but instead of carrying cargo in it's gondola, it would be a medium armored battle station with a tank like undercarriage on a swivel. This undercarriage would be a turret armed with a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun, a M61 Vulcan mini-gun and possibly some rockets. The Gondola itself would also have the ability to be able to deploy and redeploy troops out the back.
In this way, you are no longer asking for an airship with the ability to deploy tanks on the battlefield, instead the airship IS the tank and is already deployed on the battlefield.
The airship could also have M61's placed precariously on the outside of the ship to give it a full 360 degree force projection. These Vulcan cannons could be used to shoot down incoming rockets and airplanes like they do on Navy ships.
In this way you have a true Battle Blimp. Versatile like a helicopter, devastating like an AC-130, endurance like a drone, and durability like a ship. A true game changer in this modern world of conflict, and ideal for winning the war in Afghanistan.
No longer would the military need to send convoys of tanks and troop transports to any one location, when they could send a few Battle Blimps loaded with troops that would reach the location, deploy the troops, provide over-watch with a much greater endurance then helicopters, and then pick up the troops and bring them back to base when the mission is accomplished.
Hybrid Airships have not been tested in combat, so there is the possibility that the Battle Blimp concept could go up in flames like the Hindenburg. But with no Hydrogen gas to ignite that seems unlikely. The real question is how much punishment can a Hybrid Airship take before it can't fly anymore? Given that it has four engines, and it can fly on one, and that bullet holes cause vertully no helium to escape. That a hybrid airship with engine's as powerful as those on the SkyTug can keep airborne without any helium in it's envelope at all (still inflated with air of course.) That RPGs bounce off because it's essentially a giant airbag, that the envelope is invisible to radar, that the engines don't give off a vary good thermal signatures for rockets to lock on to, that it's much quieter then a helicopter, and that...
I think there is a pretty good chance the Battle Blimp will be able to survive a hell of a lot more enemy fire then a typical helicopter. But the only way to find out is to build one and throw it into a combat situation.
So? From my prospective, why isn't the military building battle blimps? It's not like the Military hasn't been testing experimental equipment on the battlefield since the American revolution. Has helium really become that expensive?
LEMV is really anything but ideal for combat missions. My feeling in my earlyer post was that if LEMV "somehow" got used in a combat extraction mission, as in, that was the only option at the time to save some Marines, and that it "somehow" proved that it was better at combat then helicopters, this would prove the concept of a "Battle Blimp" definitively. That's a rather unlikely scenario, but if it happened the military would probably order a small fleet of hybrid airships designed specifically for combat missions, which in turn would help bring down the price of Airships and usher in another golden age of airships that man has only dreamed about over the centuries.
However the reality is that LEMV is not ideal for these kinds of missions because it's not made for combat, but what if the military developed a true Battle Blimp? A Hybrid Airship designed to go head to head with tanks, airplanes, helicopters, infantry, you name it. What would this type of airship look like?
My idea is that an Airship like this would be based off Lockheed Martin's SkyTug design, but instead of carrying cargo in it's gondola, it would be a medium armored battle station with a tank like undercarriage on a swivel. This undercarriage would be a turret armed with a Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun, a M61 Vulcan mini-gun and possibly some rockets. The Gondola itself would also have the ability to be able to deploy and redeploy troops out the back.
In this way, you are no longer asking for an airship with the ability to deploy tanks on the battlefield, instead the airship IS the tank and is already deployed on the battlefield.
The airship could also have M61's placed precariously on the outside of the ship to give it a full 360 degree force projection. These Vulcan cannons could be used to shoot down incoming rockets and airplanes like they do on Navy ships.
In this way you have a true Battle Blimp. Versatile like a helicopter, devastating like an AC-130, endurance like a drone, and durability like a ship. A true game changer in this modern world of conflict, and ideal for winning the war in Afghanistan.
No longer would the military need to send convoys of tanks and troop transports to any one location, when they could send a few Battle Blimps loaded with troops that would reach the location, deploy the troops, provide over-watch with a much greater endurance then helicopters, and then pick up the troops and bring them back to base when the mission is accomplished.
Hybrid Airships have not been tested in combat, so there is the possibility that the Battle Blimp concept could go up in flames like the Hindenburg. But with no Hydrogen gas to ignite that seems unlikely. The real question is how much punishment can a Hybrid Airship take before it can't fly anymore? Given that it has four engines, and it can fly on one, and that bullet holes cause vertully no helium to escape. That a hybrid airship with engine's as powerful as those on the SkyTug can keep airborne without any helium in it's envelope at all (still inflated with air of course.) That RPGs bounce off because it's essentially a giant airbag, that the envelope is invisible to radar, that the engines don't give off a vary good thermal signatures for rockets to lock on to, that it's much quieter then a helicopter, and that...
I think there is a pretty good chance the Battle Blimp will be able to survive a hell of a lot more enemy fire then a typical helicopter. But the only way to find out is to build one and throw it into a combat situation.
So? From my prospective, why isn't the military building battle blimps? It's not like the Military hasn't been testing experimental equipment on the battlefield since the American revolution. Has helium really become that expensive?
Saturday, August 11, 2012
More LEMV and no internet
This will probably be my last post for awhile. I have lost my internet
connection and I do not know when I'm going to get it back. But
hopefully it will be before the next big thing in airships happens...
which might be real soon:
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Is this LEMV?
It's hard to determine if this is LEMV or an earlier prototype. Anyone have a clue?
My guess is that the Army would be unwilling to do test of this nature on it's first flight.
My guess is that the Army would be unwilling to do test of this nature on it's first flight.
First Footage of LEMV
LEMV is just too big not to be noticed and a family in New Jersey caught the thing on tape during it's first flight.
LEMV Flies! Will the Revolution Begin?
Aviation Week reported yesterday night, that on August 7th 2000 and 12 LEMV underwent it's madden flight out of Lakehurst New Jersey. No pictures or video as of yet, but this is the big moment we have all been waiting for. Finally the United States Military has a vehicle to prove of disprove airship technology in the 21st century, and on top of that, it's the worlds largest flying object.
Strangely enough this happened on the same day that Discovery Air ended it's deal with Hybrid Air Vehicles to build a fleet of 50 ton cargo variants of these airships. Discovery Air said in a statement "we remain excited about this technology's potential and intend to continue working with HAV to promote the commercialization of heavy lift hybrid air vehicles," So perhaps they are waiting to see what the Army dose with LEMV before they buy, all the more reason for us to show our support of LEMV.
LEMV really couldn't have picked a better time (save last year) to take it's madden flight, as NASA had just completed one the most crazy and intense rover landings on the planet mars in human history. On top of that, American's are winning at the Olympics not only in terms of total gold medal count, but in producing the best Olympic athlete in known human history; Micheal Phelps. With all these reasons to be prideful to be an American it is likely that the US Economy will see a measure of rebound, which in turn is good for the Airship business as investors will be more likely to invest in airship technology. Blue Devil Block 2 recently got caned by the Airforce when it was only 95% complete. With LEMV coming out at such an opportune time, maybe the Airforce will consider spending the last 5 million needed to finish the 148 million dollar airship.
But even if that doesn't happen, LEMV is the flagship for proving or disproving the hybrid airship concept that the military will use to judge all future efforts that it invests in airship technology. If LEMV should explode in a ball of fire for no good reason, then the airship industry will most likely never recover, and it will mark the true death for airships as we will be more likely to see anti-gravity technology take hold before anyone is willing to invest in airship technology, and by then it will be too late.
On the other hand, if LEMV should happen to be so lucky as to be used in combat for extracting troops form a hostile environment, and happens to prove it is well suited for combat extraction missions because of it's near invonrability to bullets and Rocket Propeller Grenades. Hybrid Airships could quickly become the military's new best friend complementing or replacing helicopters for the same roles.
Given what good things have happened to us Amaricans in the last few weeks, I feel very optimistic about the future. These big old blimps will revolutionize the way we get around. And although things might seem grim now for the people of earth, the cavalry is coming. Airships have the power to revolutionize the cargo industry, and in-turn, raise the stranded of living for everyone on the planet. Just imagine this scenario, the United States could solves it's economic problems by building cargo hybrid airships for a new globule cargo transportation industry. Not only would it create high-tech good paying jobs, but it would help everyone on the planet get the supplies they desperately need.
This is indeed a great day for airship fans, but it just might be a great day for the world.
Strangely enough this happened on the same day that Discovery Air ended it's deal with Hybrid Air Vehicles to build a fleet of 50 ton cargo variants of these airships. Discovery Air said in a statement "we remain excited about this technology's potential and intend to continue working with HAV to promote the commercialization of heavy lift hybrid air vehicles," So perhaps they are waiting to see what the Army dose with LEMV before they buy, all the more reason for us to show our support of LEMV.
LEMV really couldn't have picked a better time (save last year) to take it's madden flight, as NASA had just completed one the most crazy and intense rover landings on the planet mars in human history. On top of that, American's are winning at the Olympics not only in terms of total gold medal count, but in producing the best Olympic athlete in known human history; Micheal Phelps. With all these reasons to be prideful to be an American it is likely that the US Economy will see a measure of rebound, which in turn is good for the Airship business as investors will be more likely to invest in airship technology. Blue Devil Block 2 recently got caned by the Airforce when it was only 95% complete. With LEMV coming out at such an opportune time, maybe the Airforce will consider spending the last 5 million needed to finish the 148 million dollar airship.
But even if that doesn't happen, LEMV is the flagship for proving or disproving the hybrid airship concept that the military will use to judge all future efforts that it invests in airship technology. If LEMV should explode in a ball of fire for no good reason, then the airship industry will most likely never recover, and it will mark the true death for airships as we will be more likely to see anti-gravity technology take hold before anyone is willing to invest in airship technology, and by then it will be too late.
On the other hand, if LEMV should happen to be so lucky as to be used in combat for extracting troops form a hostile environment, and happens to prove it is well suited for combat extraction missions because of it's near invonrability to bullets and Rocket Propeller Grenades. Hybrid Airships could quickly become the military's new best friend complementing or replacing helicopters for the same roles.
Given what good things have happened to us Amaricans in the last few weeks, I feel very optimistic about the future. These big old blimps will revolutionize the way we get around. And although things might seem grim now for the people of earth, the cavalry is coming. Airships have the power to revolutionize the cargo industry, and in-turn, raise the stranded of living for everyone on the planet. Just imagine this scenario, the United States could solves it's economic problems by building cargo hybrid airships for a new globule cargo transportation industry. Not only would it create high-tech good paying jobs, but it would help everyone on the planet get the supplies they desperately need.
This is indeed a great day for airship fans, but it just might be a great day for the world.
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