Lockheed: No Roads, No Problem

Lockheed Martin put out another commercial touting their hybrid airship design. They actually have a lot of potential if they can keep the costs of building and maintaining them down. However, with the current helium shortage and the consequential rising market cost of helium, it might kill popular sales of an aircraft like this until they helium costs come down.

More than two-thirds of the world's land area and more than half the world's population have no direct access to paved roads. As you move farther away from infrastructure, cost, time and the safety of transport becomes more of a challenge. The Hybrid Airship enables affordable and safe delivery of heavy cargo and personnel to virtually anywhere – water or land – with little to no infrastructure.

lockheedmartin.com...

wow... that aircraft looks amazing! i live in buffalo ny, i remember when the bills were good and goign to the superbowl every year, the good year blimp would always be in town. i lived right next to the airport, so i was in fatuated. one year, they had 4 blimps for the monday night game vs the broncos... it was met life, good year, goldschlager and a white and green one... may have been fuji film?> i absolutely loved seeing so many blimps flying around.
then after 9/11 it was illegal to fly an aircraft over a stadium, and i havent seen a blimp in the area in over a decade.
this guy looks like it could go just about anywhere. weird how technology from the 1800s comes back in the 2000s

The return of the Zeppelin what a great innovation realy what else for the 21 century ?

a reply to: darksidius

bah.

I'm no lighter than air fan, except for the hot air balloons for fun. LTA craft are too delicate.

a reply to: anzha
Me too waste of money about it, keep money for working on new plane propulsion system instead of big balloon. One shot in it and bye bye..

a reply to: Sammamishman

Awww OP you missed a prime opportunity to post this:


S&F though. This is pretty cool actually.

a reply to: darksidius

Here's where I probably lose your endorsement.

I'd have loved to have the 4 engined tilt rotor replacement for the C-130 the army looked at before 2010. If they can delivery payloads vertically like a chopper with the range, speed and payload of a C-130...

MUHAHAHA.

ahem.

a reply to: Sammamishman

I'd like to see it get off the ground...as a project that is. I think they are great machines, it's lighter than air, but still a lifting body, the body is solid, the gas is inert and safe, you can shoot at it all you want. The dimensions can be huge, much better than in a jet, sitting there like a fecking sardine.

This would be like a fast land trip without the hassle, and loads of room...brilliant.

Oh! and they relatively cheap to run.

The fragility of the skin could be rectified with graphene ....its supposed to be bullet proof too.....though it my be too heavy, but im sure its doable....

originally posted by: nobunaga
wow... that aircraft looks amazing! i live in buffalo ny, i remember when the bills were good and goign to the superbowl every year, the good year blimp would always be in town. i lived right next to the airport, so i was in fatuated. one year, they had 4 blimps for the monday night game vs the broncos... it was met life, good year, goldschlager and a white and green one... may have been fuji film?> i absolutely loved seeing so many blimps flying around.
then after 9/11 it was illegal to fly an aircraft over a stadium, and i havent seen a blimp in the area in over a decade.
this guy looks like it could go just about anywhere. weird how technology from the 1800s comes back in the 2000s

It hasn't really come back, just slowly faded from its peak, but you're still absolutely right and justified. It's weird.

It's somethign to keep in mind when considering the future. Maybe 300 years from now people will still be using jets for atmospheric travel instead of something exotic like the anti-gravity hoveboard in back to the future or a sort of quantum effect or obscure science. Alternatively it'll be a mixture of exotic wonders and mundane tried and trues.

We still do and make many of the same things today as 500 years ago.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Meh...

When they go public with black triangles, wake me up!

a reply to: darksidius

What are you talking about? Who's shooting at it? I don't recall seeing in the attached videos any mention of military combat zone application. This is a commercial vehicle. One aptly suited for the environments is designed for.

a reply to: Sammamishman

That is cool as it gets right!!! do they come in personal size also ??

a reply to: combatmaster

I guess you'll be living the rest of your life asleep then.

Meh.

a reply to: uptouandme

That would be nice. I'd rather float to work than drive.

originally posted by: bandersnatch
The fragility of the skin could be rectified with graphene ....its supposed to be bullet proof too.....though it my be too heavy, but im sure its doable....

The body is rigid, probably of carbon fibre composite and alloy, it is slightly heavier than air, and is also a lifting body...a hybrid flying aircraft, and doesn't need to be bullet proof per se. Helium is non reactive. It is not a Zeppelin.

This video explains the ethos of the project

a reply to: Sammamishman

Exactly, Lockheed does a lot more than make military aircraft. I can see a few of these take over some of the more dangerous or long haul loads that big rigs would normally do. If the design allows for it, maybe have a sort of floating restaurant that would float up and down certain tracks providing incredible views.

Now the real question, would you fly one of these or float one? Either way I`d love to control one for a living.

The Hybrid Airship enables affordable and safe delivery of heavy cargo and personnel to virtually anywhere – water or land – with little to no infrastructure

Read that as.... 'Able to deliver huge loads of military / mining / fracking / logging equipment and personnel deep into pristine wilderness areas minimizing the expenditure on roads and other infrastructure whilst maximizing extraction potentials'....

How about as rescue or fire suppression? Flint Mich. could use some water I heard...

a reply to: cavtrooper7

Yea, could really see that behemoth floating over a wildfire (and related thermals etc).... and rescue... what?.... elephants?.... blue whales?... dinosaurs?... lots of people? maybe...(or at least those ones dispossessed by the actions highlighted in my previous comment?

I really wish I could see a humanitarian use for something like this, but unfortunately human nature and greed gets in the way.