Lockheed Martin's Secretly Built Airship Makes First Flight

Posted on: Feb. 6th, 2006 || Source: aviationweek.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

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 Skunk Works had secretly built the craft and hoped for a quiet first flight at its Palmdale, Calif., facility, but a few passers-by noticed the strange object in the sky.

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.

Read the full article

• Boeing, US Navy Offer Super Hornet for Denmark Fighter Competition
• Boeing Awarded US Army Contract for 191 CH-47F Chinook Helicopters
• The Netherlands shows interest in Gripen
• 4th F-35 Lightning II Rolls Out As Production Line Fills Up At Lockheed
• Lockheed Martin C-5m Super Galaxy Completes Flight Test
• Air Guard Predator pilots increase combat air patrols
• Predator passes 400,000 hours
• Future Predator/Reaper Formal Training Unit announced
• Saab/Gripen team completes Hungarian offset contract
• South African Gripen deliveries on track
• Boeing Delivers Super Hornet Proposal to Brazil For F-X2 Competition
• Northrop to Support NASA's Global Hawk Earth Science Research Aircraft
• NATO forces a step closer to attaining C-17s
• Northrop, Rockwell Collins Prove Concept for New B-2 Cockpit Display
• Navy's BAMS UAS Program Begins After GAO Ruling