Lockheed Martins P-791 airship testflight and possible use., page 1

Inflatable aircrafts have been around since the Montgolfier brothers developed the first untethered hot-air balloon in 1782, but 200 years later, they are making a high-tech resurgence for both civilian and military use. U.S. aerospace company Lockheed Martin's version is called the P-791 airship.

In 2006 Lockheed Martin's Secretly Built Airship Makes First Flight. After 5 years of further development refinement the finished product is ready for production. They say it will be useable for military and commercial use as a freight transporter that can stay in the air for up to 3 weeks. The strenght of airships away from airports, so the can transport cargo to remote area's. I doubt it will be available for everyone if they plan on useing it in invasionwars.

Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Projects is making perhaps the first realistic tests of a hybrid airship--a concept that dates back many decades but that is just now being tried at a significant scale.

The Defense Dept. is showing interest in two categories of airships--those that can carry large cargo at low altitude, exemplified by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) Walrus program, and those that can operate in high-altitude low-wind conditions and remain on station for long periods of time. The configuration of the Skunks Works ship indicates it is the former--a hybrid heavy-load carrier.Source

There's also a video about this airship on Reuter's but it wont embed so here a link (almost same pictures, put a short introduction to the possible applications).

reply to post by Mimir

There's also a video about this airship on Reuter's but it wont embed so here a link (almost same pictures, put a short introduction to the possible applications).

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Possible Application: Increase UFO sightings around the world.

reply to post by Mimir

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That's pretty cool. I'm curious as to how much it could carry. Actually, I could a see FedEx or UPS logo on it's side in the near future.

They should have used Pink Floyd's "Pigs" though as the background music.

reply to post by TDawgRex

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You almost certainly will never see a for-profit company flying airships for cargo - they just aren't worth the effort.

Large cargo a/c carry more already, and smaller a/c and helicopters can carry enough to remote locations.

There really is no logical commercial market for payload carrying airships. Long endurance for civilian or military surveillance & communication relay, and even strike functions for the military could be useful, but that's about it - apart from flying billboards!

Found a few clips and a description of the P-793 on Lockheed Martins homepage:

Success in the war on terrorism depends on knowing where the enemy is hiding and having resources in place to act on that knowledge quickly. In a war where the adversaries of freedom can strike at any time and from any point, our servicemen and women need the most sophisticated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets available. Their lives and the lives of innocent civilians may hang in the balance.Lockheed Martin’s Hybrid Air Vehicle is one such asset, a multi-mission capable airship that can be designed as an unmanned or manned intelligence gatherer or transport vehicle. As an eye in the sky, this remarkable airship can stay aloft for up to three weeks at an altitude of 20,000 feet. Loaded with cameras, infrared sensors, communications relays, and other payloads, the Hybrid Air Vehicle can provide American and allied forces a clear picture of the battlefield. As a transport vehicle, the Hybrid Air Vehicle can be sized to move equipment and troops cost effectively to unimproved forward areas.

This airship’s utility is not limited to military missions. Having eyes on a situation and the ability to support cargo transport is invaluable for humanitarian, disaster relief, and homeland security efforts. An affordable and environmentally sensitive solution, the Hybrid Air Vehicle is more fuel efficient than any other flying system, consuming less than a third the fuel of a fixed wing aircraft to accomplish the same mission. Using an innovative air cushion landing system, the airship can launch and land easily in open fields, parking lots or even on water using its innovative air cushion landing system.

The Hybrid Air Vehicle is a unique blend of technology, supporting a variety of missions in peace and in conflict, enabling a safer, more secure world. Hybrid Air Vehicle (P-791)

BAE Systems has an autonomous airship too, its one of their fleet of UAVs.

Its not being marketed as military, the applications are civilian such as police surveillance, Im pretty sure it will be used to patrol above the 2012 olympics if they can get CAA authority which is easier in a blimp than a aircraft.

Imagine having a blimp over your town for 80% of the year, a semi permanent eye in the sky, only a blimp could do this or one of those high altitude solar planes, but a blimp is easiest and safer.

Airship GA-22

PS. That lockheed martin blimp and the pigs comment is gold

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