PENTAGON BLIMP FETISH ON THE RISE

The old blimp-​​building air­dock in Akron hasn’t been on the cut­ting edge of much of any­thing for almost 70 years. But that may be about to change.
In the early 1930s, Goodyear Co. used the nearly 1,200-foot-long, 325-​​foot-​​wide hangar to house a set of zep­pelins designed to launch an era in lighter-​​than-​​air trans­port.
A series of hor­rific crashes put those dreams to rest. Over the years, air­ships became lit­tle more than adver­tis­ing vehi­cles at sport­ing events.
Now, the Pentagon has become fas­ci­nated with poten­tial new uses for blimps — to spy on poten­tial adver­saries, trans­mit con­ver­sa­tions and maybe even haul heli­copters or Humvees one day.
That’s given the Akron air­dock, now owned by Lockheed Martin Corp., a new mis­sion. The mas­sive hangar is being used to put together a teth­ered blimp for the U.S. Army in Iraq. By June, it will be keep­ing watch over west­ern Baghdad from 2,500 feet and relay­ing com­man­ders’ orders and insur­gents’ coor­di­nates to troops in the field.
Generals aren’t the only ones inter­ested in air­ships, how­ever.
Thanks to tougher fab­rics, more effi­cient solar pan­els, and longer-​​lasting bat­ter­ies and fuel cells, blimps can now hover over an area for months at a time. That dura­bil­ity could allow air­ships to essen­tially act as cell tow­ers or wire­less Internet hot spots — ones that sit thou­sands of feet up in the sky.
My Chicago Tribune story has details.

April 17th, 2004 | Uncategorized | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.