Future airlifters inspired by airships and military

Moving big stuff across treacherous terrain can be dangerous and expensive, and innovators are always looking for new solutions.

Lately, in the airlift industry, inspiration has come from already proven platforms like lighter-than-air airships and successful military cargo planes.

During its 62 years in production, Lockheed Martin’s C-130 Hercules military airlifter gained a reputation as a master of undeveloped airstrips. So popular are C-130s that they’re flown in 68 countries and they’ve logged more than 22 million flight hours.

Related story: C-130, the plane that just won’t quit

Now, a new civilian version is in the works.

The LM-100J Super Hercules is expected to make its first flight next year.

Virginia-based logistics and defense group Bravo Industries announced at this month’s Farnborough International Airshow in England, that it’s buying 10 LM-100Js for cargo operations in Brazil.

That makes sense.

Brazil, with its huge wilderness areas, isn’t exactly overflowing with aviation infrastructure and ground support.

The military version of the Super Herc can carry military gear the size of utility helicopters and six-wheeled armored vehicles – so you can imagine the civilian stuff that can be stuffed into that cargo hold.

Maximum cruising speed: 408 mph. That’s pretty good if your stuff needs to get to where it’s going relatively fast.

But what if time isn’t so important? What if going slow was OK and the most important factor was just getting the stuff there intact?

Bravo’s president and CEO JR Pereira said he’d be open to another idea inspired by a proven platform: a hybrid airship.

“In the Brazilian market, we’ve talked to some of the oil and gas and some mining companies that have already shown us a great deal of interest about the hybrid ship due to the capacity and versatility of supporting heavy duty equipment to different areas,” Pereira said during a news conference last week.

Reminiscent of the airships of the 1930s, Lockheed Martin’s hybrid airship will carry up to 21 metric tons of cargo and 19 passengers, once it wins U.S. flight certification.

These aircraft burn less than a tenth of the fuel of a helicopter per ton, but they’re faster than most land and sea transportation. They’re quiet. They require little landing infrastructure and they can pretty much land and take off anywhere.

hybrid enterprises

The Hybrid Airship from Lockheed Martin and Hybrid Enterprises is the product of 20 years of development. It can travel thousands of kilometers in a single journey, at speeds of up to 60 knots, the company says.

Lockheed Martin

The airship is designed to allow the delivery of large loads of cargo to otherwise inaccessible areas. It can carry a 20 ton load.

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Lockheed says its airship uses only one tenth of the fuel required by helicopters per ton and, like helicopters, can access remote areas around the world as it does not require an airstrip to land on.

hybrid enterprises

The design could allow mining of areas such as the frozen North of Canada, or low-infrastructure regions of Guinea.

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The ships are currently undergoing FAA certification, and could be available in 2018.

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The price has not been disclosed, but each ship will likely cost over $10 million.

Courtesy Hydrid Air Vehicles

Lockheed Martin are not the only firm looking to bring back the blimp. The Airlander 10 is a hybrid airship designed by UK-based firm Hybrid Air Vehicles.

Courtesy Hybrid Air Vehicles

The lightweight airship, seen here in a concept illustration, can carry up to 10 tons and stay in the air for five days continuously.

Courtesy Hybrid Air Vehicles

Airlander 10 was originally designed for the U.S. military to use for surveillance of troops and conflict zones overseas, but a lack of funding grounded the project.

Oli Scarff/Getty Images/file

HAV brought the technology back and is underway with plans to lift off again thanks to a £3.4 million ($5.1 million) grant from the UK government, aimed at helping emerging technologies and job creation.

AEROS

Another cargo-carrying blimp in the works is the Aeroscraft from U.S.-based aviation company, Aeros.

AEROS

The Aeroscraft is designed to carry large loads of cargo over long distances to areas where there is little or no infrastructure.

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Aeroscorp, which also makes advertising airships, is testing a smaller version of the Aeroscraft at the company's massive flight test hangar in Tustin, California.

Image: Raytheon

Other airships in development include Raytheon's JLENS aerostat, designed to carry out surveillance missions, hovering high in the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 30 days at a time.

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Airships were once hailed as the future of flight. Glamorous, luxurious and fast, they were one of the icons of the Art Deco era.

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They developed from the hot air balloon; the Montgolfier brothers launched the first manned balloon flight in Paris in 1783.

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Hydrogen-filled balloons were used for surveillance and reconnaissance during the American Civil War in the 1860s.

But the Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937, put paid to the era of passenger-carrying airships.

Feng Li/Getty Images

Over the decades, they have continued to be used for advertising, and at sporting events, such as this one at the London 2012 Olympics.

And let’s not forget the biggest aircraft in the world: Hybrid Air Vehicles’ Airlander 10, which has been touted as having the potential to serve as an unmanned airlifter capable of flying continuously for up to two weeks.

Avgeeks were hoping Airlander 10 would show up at Farnborough this year, but they were left disappointed. It remains in Hybrid Air Vehicle’s hangar in Cardington, England, where it awaits testing.