Some good news for LEMV and HAV, bad news or U.S. taxpayers but that's not really anything new. LEMV has been sold back to HAV for $301,000, literally pennies on the dollar. According to the Army it would have been too expensive to keep LEMV in storage and undoubtedly thanks to the government shutdown the Army decided it would be best to, more or less, just give it away to HAV, who plans to use it for cargo operations in Alaska and Canada.
To me, this is not as bad as it sounds. Sure the US Government has proven to be totally incompetent with Tax Payer money and wasted a huge amount of money on a spy program that never went anywhere. But the government is spending $48 billion a year to protect us from "terrorists" which are less of a threat to your safety in the US then rattle snake bites and lighting strikes.
The truth is these spy programs have nothing to do with spying on "terrorists" and everything to do with suppressing the political uprising against the fascist bankers who have taken over our nation. I think I am going to write about this some more over on my other blog about the end of the Illuminati. This is a big win for freedom and liberty, because now instead of something we spent 300 million on being used ageist us as a weapon in a possible future civil war, it is now going to be used for peaceful cargo operations that I believe one day will help in saving the world from environmental destruction and economic terrorism.
The ability to move cargo is what makes a Hybrid Airship so versatile, it's use as a spy platform is less cost effective then traditional LTA craft. So the fact the LEMV will live on doing what it was born to do, is a good thing. The fact that it was American money that put it in the air, means the good old USA helped to get the 2ed airship revolution started again... although a bit by accident.
There are going to be political problems with getting another airship program started in the United States, as these spy blimp programs will undoubtedly be used as a reason to not pursue any more Hybrid Airship development by the US Government. That being said, LEMV will prove it was a good investment when it proves to be more then capable of delivering cargo in Canada and Alaska. Which may spark more investment by the government and corporations.
This might have been the best thing the US Government ever did to help Airships get off the ground again. We now have a working prototype that will demonstrate the effectiveness of Hybrid Airships, to deliver cargo in some of the most extreme locations. There are literally billions of dollars waiting to be invested into Hybrid Airships by mega corporations that need the logistical capabilities the Hybrid Airship can deliver. Yet, they are unwilling to invest because they are unsure of the technology and they would like to see a working prototype in action before they are willing to invest.
Now we have that prototype, and with it we are paving the way for Airships to rise again.
The future is looking good!
Yes indeed, this was a boon for HAV. The giveaway of the LEMV is literally the greatest boost airships have recieved since the German public turned out en masse to donate to Hugo Eckener's Zeppelins.
ReplyDeleteIt has everything to do with capital. Capital has thus far been the ultimate limiting factor of all airship revival efforts; the ability to secure enough funding to get a return on investment from a functioning commercial hybrid airship has thus far been a hurdle that no project has overcome, with the possible exception of Solar Ship which recieved enough money to get one of their full-sized ships flying by 2014. But bat has yet to occur, while the LEMV's sale will be finalized by about… now.
HAV has effectively been given a full size, commercial-scale hybrid airship FOR FREE. $301,000 is a joke- barely qualifies as a legal fee. It's literally less than the Helium used to fill the ship. Hell, if you calculate the sheer staggering amount of money that flowed INTO the company from the contract itself, and add to that all the infrastructure, data, technical knowhow, production skills and computer programs they gained in the process, and the Army pretty much paid them a massive sum for the privelege of building their own airship!
To put things in context, the Army had originally asked $44 million for the airship. HAV managed to rustle up a $10 million down payment, and were willing (if questionably able) to make installment payments. The Army, hilariously, refused the offer. So that money, presumably, still exists- a comfortable little best egg with which to prepare and modify the LEMV for civilian service, plus a fair bit extra to get things going on the purpose-made civilian cargo ships, the Airlander 50s.
Over on the HAV unofficial facebook page, I saw some estimates on the cost of modifications and what those might be:
- $2 million for installation of the hoverskirts
- $2 million for replacing the fore engines with a pair of turboprops, incl. gearing and vectoring mods
- $1 million for payload bay mods
- $1 million for inflation, shipping, de-mothballing, etc.
- $2 million for build costs, more minor mods and ancillary expenses
- $1 million for administration and certification processes
-$2 million for unexpected "whatever" costs
Ultimately, converting the LEMV to a cargo carrier and getting her shipshape will cost roughly as much as HAV's proposed down payment, if these estimates are accurate. Cue irony.
Some good points, I'm unaware if they plan to replace the engines or not. I believe they do not plan to replace the engines, as I recall, HAV said they planned to carry 4 to 5 tons, if they replaced the engines they should be able to get 20 tons or more.
ReplyDelete4 or 5 tons, from what I understand, is what they could carry in the LEMV if it was bone stock, completely unmodified. In other words, the planned engine, payload bay and hoverskirt mods raise the payload without eating very much into the 12,000 lb weight gain. The lower altitude alone would mean it could carry a great deal more Helium. The mods do shave weight in places, though.
DeleteWe do know that the projected figures for a normal-weight LEMV with payload bay mods and hoverskirts but NOT an engine mod is a 40,000 lb payload and a 1,000 nautical mile range. The proposed engine mod would be a pretty drastic change. The two fore engines are most important to hover and VTOL performance. The proposed engines would be turboprops, probably of the PT6 variety, which unlike the diesels, are able to be fully vectored (the LEMV currently only utilizes partial vectoring and compensates using the vanes), which allows them to dispense with the vanes and save significant weight. For fuel consumption, the efficiently-placed aft engines would remain diesels.