I like big blimps, and I can not lie: Airlander 10 lands military deal
It floats, it flies, and it’s about to go tactical. The Airlander 10 is a behemoth of helium and hybrid engineering, and it just secured its first military reservations. Three of the world’s longest aircraft are now on hold for defense use, according to UK-based Hybrid Air Vehicles.
The company said new threats across the globe required new solutions, and Airlander would directly respond to current and emerging threats.
Work on a production facility started last December in Doncaster where it was expected airships would be built and tested in 2026.
The company had previously said the European-based Air Nostrum Group had reserved 10 Airlanders, but that number had increased to 20, for delivery by 2027.
The Airlander has been designed to be about 320ft (98m) long, with a cabin underneath, making it the world’s longest aircraft.
Mr Land said: “Its versatility, high payload, and endurance have always given Airlander 10 obvious advantages over other aircraft in Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR).
Originally designed for civil certification, the Airlander’s versatility, payload, and five-day flight endurance won over a defense contractor eager for airborne surveillance, transport, and drone deployment. With production kicking off next year, the blimp with the brain of a plane might be the strangest, smartest war machine in the sky. I wonder what evasive maneuvers will look like, slow-motion ballet?
That blimp is thick.
There is a certain rudeness to those photos that makes me wonder whether sufficiently rumptious models will soon be wearing little round fans on their hips, and posing in uplifting
ways.
And we will not speak of the gondola ...