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The era calls for the return of the airship
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has fought many wars in succession. In these wars, although high-tech equipment was dazzling, it also exposed many problems. Especially on the Afghan battlefield, in the face of complex terrain and complex objects of combat, the US military’s advanced satellite reconnaissance system and UAV reconnaissance platform are incompetent. “Puma is afraid of carriages, and precision bombs cannot be uniformed by roadside bombs.â€
Therefore, the development of an air platform that can perform long-term monitoring of control areas and provide accurate intelligence to front-line combat troops will no doubt meet the actual needs of the battlefield. The test flight of the LEMV unmanned airship has a lasting and stable monitoring capability. It can quickly adapt to the new generation of sensors and provide the necessary information for the ground control unit at the common ground control station, the command center for the scalable public ground system and the combat base.
The use of low cost is another core competitiveness of military airships. The data shows that for the same reconnaissance mission, the cost of using the airship is only 1/2 of the drone and 3/4 of the satellite. The LEMV unmanned airship is a giant bigger than a football field and taller than the seven-story building, but it spends only $11,000 in 21 days in the air.
Under the background that all countries are beginning to cut military expenditures and cut down large-scale weapons projects, the airship family represented by the LEMV unmanned airships has come back, indicating that a new generation of “aircraft carriers†is returning.
After hardships, Bai Liancheng Steel
The early airships, due to their slow speed, easy to burn and explode, were easily damaged and fell after being attacked by gunfire, and their viability was low. Therefore, after the aircraft was born, the military airship gradually disappeared from the battlefield.
In recent years, with the application of aviation technology, aerodynamic design technology, and new energy and new materials in the development of airships, military airships have made a qualitative leap from the past.
Big load, become the air "Hercules." Large-scale transport airships can airdrop troops, equipment, and various types of safeguard equipment over long distances. They are known as "air carriers." The US-developed LEMV unmanned airship can carry 2,750 pounds of payload to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. With a payload capacity of 2,700 cubic feet, the additional lift volume can also add extra volume. All this caters to the urgency of the US military's desire to solve the logistical transport problems of the military and ease the logistical transportation pressure of the US military.
When it was sailing, it became the "perpetual motion" in the air. Long battery life is the most significant advantage of airships compared to other aircraft. Due to the continuous improvement of the aerodynamic design of airships, the combination of solar cells and fuel cells, and the application of ion thruster power systems, the airship’s voyage and life time continue to increase. In the unmanned mode, the LEMV can reach a range of 1,500 to 2,400 nautical miles with a 15,000 lb. lift configuration. It can stay at 20,000 feet for 21 days. Its reconnaissance mission is equivalent to 12 MQ-9s. The total number of reconnaissance missions completed by drones.
More environmentally friendly, air sanitation workers. As more and more environmental protection is promoted, airships will tend to adopt environmentally friendly fuels such as the use of gas fuels, algae biofuels, and solar cells to provide power to reduce environmental pollution. LEMV has high fuel efficiency and fuel consumption is less than one tenth of that of an equivalent aircraft.
More efficient, become the air "efficiency king." The LEMV has a short take-off distance, good stability, mature technology, flying speed of 56 km/h, and sprint speed of 148 km/h. Carrying all kinds of loads. It can implement effective command and control of air combat aircraft, marine combat ships, surface-to-air missile systems, and army combat systems, and play a more important role in the joint operations of all arms and military units.
Bright future, road twists and turns
Although the military airship has great potential for development and the future is excellent, we still cannot avoid its inherent flaws.
The high cost is prohibitive. Although the use of airships is very inexpensive, its cost is an astronomical figure. The price of an airship generally varies depending on the size of the airship. For example, a 40-meter-long small airship costs about US$2 million. If airships are used as large-scale military transport vehicles, it is doomed that the initial construction volume will not be much, and the initial cost of carrying cargo will also increase dramatically.
Poor self-defense capability is worrying. The envelope of the LEMV airship is made of high-strength polyester, Kevlar material and mylar polyester film, which can be used to prevent small fires from the ground. However, the huge size and poor maneuverability have resulted in the weak self-defense capability of military airships. They are easily found by various radar systems and attacked by warplanes and ground-based air defense systems.
In addition, due to the large size of the airship, a large amount of heat is accumulated under the sunlight, and the distribution of heat is not uniform. This heat will change the size of the airship and the center of gravity of the airship will also shift, which will affect the stability of the airship and cause structural fatigue of the airship.
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