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In article m, "David E.
Powell" wrote: "Paul F Austin" wrote in message . .. High altitude airships are being considered for both civil and military applications. One limitation they have is in electrical generating capacity over the long mission times planned. It's not insuperable, especially with passive sensors but it is a problem. What about solar cells on the envelope? Especially at altitude, where sunlight would be stronger. As stated in the article. The other obvious limitation is the ease with which angry strangers could punch holes in them. True, but winds would be more of a concern to me, though that seems a problem in transiting from ground to high altitude, going through the atmospheric layers. Getting to 70,000 ft. is necessary to engage them, and even back over the Mediterranean Sea an airship at that altitude can see a long way, depending on how good the sensors are. (And, of course, those monitoring and coordinating the data.) Not to mention that even a large gas bag could be somewhat stealthy, if the radar waves pass right through..... It's the 1.9 tons of electronic equipment that will not be strealthy, especially the antennas. There's quite a bit of hyperbole in the article, not least of which is this: "Although Malam is not the first to think about such airships, it is believed to be the first to have resolved the problem of keeping the craft in geostationary position" The whole project has so many technological hudles as to be laughable. Resolved? What BS. -- Harry Andreas Engineering raconteur |
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