more pictures at the link
more pictures at the link
Is it just me, or does it seem like this thing is just a big sitting duck? Except the duck is floating slowly, not sitting. Has to be a lot easier to take out than a maneuvering jet aircraft with countermeasures. Probably some Greenie thought it was a great idea.
Except for one thing...the envirokooks destroyed it because the rainwater coming off the sides was supposedly contaminated:
Today the once-beautiful and historic structure is an ugly skeleton rusting in the rain. I'm certain all those corrosion products are harmless to the environment. Rampant government stupidity is on fine public display adjacent to CA 101 in Mountain View, CA.
After you...........
A perfect skydiving platform for massive formations!
Hindenberg
If Moochell Odinga stood next to this thing her butt might not look so big.
This has been in the works for decades and I suspect that it will work well. They have spent a lot of time to come up with a suitable platform and it is going to be valuable.
As far as protection, I doubt that they have let that go. It is probably very difficult to shoot down. Most likely oompartmentalized envelope etc.
Happy Days are here again and I’m gonna party like it’s 1937!
Used to be a radio operator on that base in 1977, was in those hangers alot
What could possibly go wrong? /sarc
Hope it’s got a kevlar skin if they’re planning on using it for military payloads in Afghanistan. Talk about the broad side of a barn, it would be easily hit.
Up, up and away in my beautiful my beautiful balloon.
Just don’t name it after a German Field Marshall.
from an article in blimpinfo.com....
Another Air Force airship, filled with 420,000 cubic feet of helium and air and costing $8.2 million, floated away and exploded last year when a tropical storm blew in during a test flight in Puerto Rico. Army aerostats have also been lost in high winds.
We have silverfish bigger than that in Texas...
As for those FReepers concerned about it being shot down, there's no way it'll be used in any combat situation. Think of it as the air version of a cargo truck, not a tank or other battle vehicle. It can hover with payload for a lot longer than a helicopter without burning nearly the same amount of fuel. Limited purpose, but still valuable and appropriate for a number of situations.
It is NOT a blimp but a rigid airship. A series of helium filled bags enclosed inside a framework, which is then covered with an outer skin to provide an airworthy shape.
Any dirigible flying today, also rigid, has very impressive control systems based on engine nacelles that pivot to give vertical control and may be able to provide for sideways/directional control as well.
Since you can put anywhere from two to hundreds of gas bags inside the frame, gunfire and most missiles aren't likely to take one down. Of course, controls and power are vulnerable in any aircraft.
The idea of such a cargo handler is not even new and, yes, proper applications are either not military or military only under quite secure conditions...not jumping troops over hostile territory or hauling supplies to some isolated fire base.
Most apt use is a niche between sea borne and existing fixed wing airlifters; faster than the former and cheaper than the latter.
So so many parallels between now and the years preceeding WWII......you had the Zepplins of 1930s Germany, attempts at gun grabbing, pandering to the poor with blaming of certain groups (it was Jews, now old white men), Weimar Scrip and a whole new monetary system based on unending serial taxation, total debasement and corruption of the legal system......there are others .....
They might as well paint a Swastika on it (or the equivalent - The Obama Sunrise).