I've recently been musing upon the future role airships may have in either military cargo capacity or in the observation and reconnaissance role and have done some digging around on current projects by both Lockheed Martin and a couple of civilian companies. some links:
Aviation Week : Lockheed Martin's Secretly Built Airship Makes First Flight
Walrus Heavy-Lift Blimp Getting off the Ground
Aeroscraft - Model Aeros ML866
The Lockheed P-791, DARPA's WALRUS project and the Aeroscraft by Worldwide Aeros Corporation all seem to be fairly similar in design in being a kind of hybrid lifting body in shape. Indeed, the concept of WALRUS reminds me heavily of the SkyCat concept (but not the design) that was being touted around by a British company (now defunct I believe) some years ago, being a long range, extremely heavy-lift design (with an estimated cargo capacity of between 500-1000 tonnes). ... how many fully armed troops is 1000 tonnes??
It occurred to the mean spirit in me that this kind of long endurance, high flying vehicle with such a vast capacity could perhaps be used in more front-line supporting roles as a platform for various weapon systems. While something of this nature would likely only be used in a theater where air superiority had been properly nailed down, it seems to me that a system like this may be able to perform a similar role to the Specter Gunship; except that you could likely double the number of carried weapons and have several hundred tonnes of ammo on board (depending upon physical space of course).
while this is not likely to a be reality at all, the possibility would be nothing short of terrifying.
Just a few thoughts to hopefully kick off a discussion on the future role of war blimps
, I would like to hear your thoughts on this.
PS, As I was writing this, the words 'Flying Arsenal Ship' trickled down into my conscious thoughts.. Nah, that's just silly.
