Lockheed wins $149.2 million BMD airship contract

By Martin Sieff Dec 13, 2005, 22:22 GMT

Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors in Akron, OH has received a $149.2 million contract to build and demonstrate the technical feasibility and military utility of a prototype new High Altitude Airship (HAA), Defense Industry Daily reported Monday.

The unmanned HAA will be a 500-foot-long, unmanned, radar-carrying surveillance blimp, or non-rigid, inflatable airship designed to detect and track incoming ballistic missiles as they approach U.S. coastal regions.

The blimp would hover above the jet stream at an altitude of 65,000 feet for months at a time and will also have the ability to detect low-flying missiles that may have slipped underneath ground-based radars, DID said. Once operational, it could prove an important early-detection system and also serve as a weather surveyor and telecom relay.

DID said Lockheed Martin planned to develop advanced fuel cells capable of delivering up to 500 kilowatts to power the proposed airship. The HAA would also require an aerodynamic design and a control system to help keep it steady amid the high winds at such altitudes without consuming excessive power.

Other technical challenges will include dealing with the heating and cooling effects of day and night on the helium in the blimp at such altitudes and developing new materials for the airship`s skin that could withstand extreme ultraviolet radiation at high altitudes for extended periods without becoming brittle.

The airship prototype will be required to have the capability of remaining on station for a month at a time with a minimum payload capacity of 500 pounds with 3 kilowatts of power. Completion of the HAA prototype is expected by November 2010, DID said.

The Missile Defense Agency eventually plans to deploy up to 10 blimps to provide overlapping coverage of U.S. coastal regions.