Code One: Rethinking Air Power - How Hybrid Airships Haul More Than Hot Air · Lockheed Martin: A blimp. A Zeppelin. A dirigible. All are variations of airships, but what if it was as tall as an eight-story building, had a cargo ramp and door similar to a C-5 Galaxy and hauling capacity of a C-130 Hercules? What if this vehicle could carry a crew, land on any surface and provide access to remote locations around the world that until now were virtually inaccessible? Then you’re talking about a next generation airship.
More than two-thirds of the world’s land area and more than half of the world’s population do not have direct access to paved roads or runways. This lack of infrastructure presents numerous challenges for worldwide humanitarian relief, natural resource extraction and heavy cargo operations. In most cases, developing these areas to accommodate roads or airways is not an option, so for centuries they’ve remained isolated.
True to form, the Skunk Works ® team in Palmdale, California, recognized this challenge and since the early 1990s has developed technologies that evolved into today’s Hybrid Airship; a cargo airship that revolutionizes remote access through patented innovations such as the Air Cushion Landing System (ACLS), thrust-vectoring propulsion and a Self-Propelled Instrument for Damage Evaluation and Repair (SPIDER).
