Lockheed Martin's HALE-D airship learns to fly, makes a crash landing

Because dirigibles were such a great idea the first, completely non-disastrous time around, Lockheed Martin and the US Army have teamed up to bring the quaint technology back into our hyper-modern era. The lighter-than-air vehicle got a new lease on unmanned flight life when it launched yesterday from its base in Akron, Ohio. The High Altitude Long Endurance-Demonstrator (HALE-D for short) reached 32,000 ft during its maiden voyage before technical difficulties cut the test short, forcing an emergency landing in the deep woods of southwestern Pennsylvania. Despite the flight-aborting hiccup, the global security company is all smiles, citing the successful demonstration of "communications links, [the] unique propulsion system, solar array electricity generation [and] remote piloting communications."

Source

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2b4e2323c4ea.jpg[/atsimg]

Not a great start for one of Lockheed Martin's latest projects but i guess they are just ironing at the bugs at this stage.

Learning to land was PHASE-2

They are still in PHASE-1 - Learning to fly.

reply to post by JennaDarling




Some fitting music for this topic.

better luck next time.

Im just surprised that this wasnt falsly reported as a UFO sighting. You can imagine the scene as it crash landed in the woods closly followed by the army and Lockhead Martin. They would have swarmed in , shut down the area , stole film off anyone who got pics and quickly dragged the wreckage away. Its got all the makings of a classic UFO crash story.

Hmm, now im thinking about it maybe the whole test flight was a cover story. lol

You/whoever wrote that article are either ignorant on the subject or being very disingenuous with this "antiquated," "left behind," "just now being tried again" stuff.

these are from a few years ago and they're far from the only ones...

articles.latimes.com...


Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights
The giant dirigible would use radar to closely and constantly monitor activity on the ground from 65,000 feet.

March 13, 2009|Julian E. Barnes

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said Thursday that it intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant dirigible that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth for 10 years, providing unblinking and intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below.

"It is absolutely revolutionary," Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force, said of the proposed unmanned airship -- describing it as a cross between a satellite and a spy plane.

The 450-foot-long craft would give the U.S. military a better understanding of an adversary's movements, habits and tactics, officials said. And the ability to constantly monitor small movements in a wide area -- the Afghanistan- Pakistan border, for example -- would dramatically improve military intelligence.

"It is constant surveillance, uninterrupted," Dahm said. "When you only have a short-time view -- whether it is a few hours or a few days -- that is not enough to put the picture together."

The project reflects a shift in Pentagon planning and spending priorities under Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has urged the military services to improve intelligence and surveillance operations while cutting high-tech weaponry costs.

If successful, the dirigible -- the brainchild of the Air Force and the Pentagon's research arm -- could pave the way for a fleet of spy airships, military officials said.

...

It's just like every single other news item with military implications... Any time it's in the news they talk about it like "it's the first time ever," or "they're just testing something minor out, nevermind all the major stuff connected to it"

reply to post by 1825114


Maybe you misread the quote in the OP 1825114?

Lockheed Martin and the US Army have teamed up to bring the quaint technology back into our hyper-modern era.

I dont think anyone is suggesting this is a new idea.

Originally posted by 1825114
You're either ignorant on the subject or being very disingenuous with this "antiquated," "left behind," "just now being tried again" stuff.

Indeed - and the OP link mentions dirigibles - rigid airships - which this is not - it is a "blimp" - a non-rigid airship - and as your videos show they have been successfully used in niche roles for decades.

airships are no use whatsoever for normal air transport these days - but there are still some roles for which it ppears they aer more suitable than a/c - and high altitude long endurance surveillance/communications, etc looks to be one of them.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
reply to post by 1825114

 

Maybe you misread the quote in the OP 1825114?

Lockheed Martin and the US Army have teamed up to bring the quaint technology back into our hyper-modern era.

I dont think anyone is suggesting this is a new idea.

He didn't say they had said it was a new idea - he said that it wasn't antiquated, or "left behind" - because blimps have been in almost constant use since WW2 - ie they are modern, up to date, techologically advanced, etc.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


ahh , my mistake

Heres another Lockheed airship from a few years back.

It is BIG BLACK DELTA!!

techreport.com...

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

 

Heres another Lockheed airship from a few years back.

Yep - there's already a thread about it www.abovetopsecret.com...

Note my post there where I link to a "Depleted Cranium" article about why airships will never be any use as heavy cargo lifters.

First things first...it didn't "crash" as the headline falsely states. It made an emergency landing, according to the body. One sounds like a safe landing, and the other sounds like it blew up on the way down.

Headlines are made to attract attention. It worked.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

Indeed - and the OP link mentions dirigibles - rigid airships - which this is not - it is a "blimp" - a non-rigid airship .

I dont profess to be an expert on the subject but It seems dirigible doesnt mean rigid a rigid craft

An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms. Unlike aerodynamic aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which produce lift by moving a wing through the air, aerostatic aircraft stay aloft by having a large "envelope" filled with a gas which is less dense than the surrounding atmosphere. In the past hydrogen was generally used, but nowadays helium is preferred because of its lack of flammability.

Source Wiki

A dirigible is any lighter-than-air craft that is both powered and steerable (as opposed to free floating, like a balloon). Blimps like the Goodyear blimp, rigid airships like the Hindenburg, and semi-rigid airships like the Zeppelin NT are all dirigibles.

The word “dirigible” is often associated with large rigid airships, but the term does not come from the word “rigid,” but rather the French verb “diriger” (“to steer”).

Source Airship.net

That is correct regarding the term "dirigible". Do you also know the origin of the word "blimp"?

It derives from the old British Army classification that there were two types of airship in service ; "Type A rigid, and Type B limp", typical service slang did the rest. Wiki has a stab at the etymology of the word and shows there is quite a bit of disagreement on this however, but this is the explanation I have known for forty years and no-one has YET proven it wrong

The earliest reference to the word I can find is published in Flight magazine in May 1916, though there is no explanation of where it came from.

Originally posted by daynight42
First things first...it didn't "crash" as the headline falsely states. It made an emergency landing, according to the body. One sounds like a safe landing, and the other sounds like it blew up on the way down.

Headlines are made to attract attention. It worked.

This video was posted at another forum today



I think its quite conclusive that it did in fact crash.

there was a darpa project for sbl Space Based Laser telecomunications it was tested at pine gap because of its geographic position for satelites and its small amount of clouds. once this was successfull it was going to be tested on blimp to blimp laser telecomunications.

2007 the funnding for this blimp was cancelled

2001 the blimp laser telecomunications contract

i think its come down because there was no need for it any more they can build one beter so lets hit it with a stratosphere weapon like haarp and then you get orange goo forming down the road in anchorage

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Maybe they should try this experiment: www.youtube.com...