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| Science & Technology | |
| How serious is DOD about airships? | |
| 2010-01-05 | |
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-M97AJtems WALRUS is huge! |
| Posted by: Phith Dingle6292 2010-01-05 15:04 |
| #6 Airships are OK so long as don't get within 300 feet of the ground. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-01-05 14:05 |
| #5 Afghanistan is a logistical nightmare. A number of airships doing cargo duty could be a real help. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2010-01-05 14:00 |
| #4 I don't think that the Close Air Support mission is in the cards for any airship. Airships can go really, really, really high, though. 70,000 feet wouldn't be out of the question. I think canceling DARPA's Walrus program was a mistake. http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/black_triangle_020805.html |
| Posted by: Pstanley 2010-01-05 13:37 |
| #3 First thought: review the success of the Zeppelin raids on London... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-01-05 13:36 |
| #2 Faster than ships, more cargo than planes. The real question is how high can they go (above RPG range?) and how durable are they? I mean continue comparing it to a C-130, but one equipped with the gatling guns and canons to support ground troops. The airship can stay on target a lot longer and doesn't have the same level of movement so I should think it would be far more accurate. It would be nice having that floating up high over a base, or silently over known smuggler trails, but at what point is this death from above a big fat target? |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2010-01-05 10:14 |
| #1 I'm not so sure. They threw in some tongue in cheek gags into that slide show. And despite all else, the best use of airships is rather dull--heavy cargo lift. Payload for a C-130 is only 22.5 tons. Their largest airship has a payload of 500 tons. So it would take 22 C-130 flights to carry as much cargo. So airships save a hell of a lot of time and money. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-01-05 08:46 |