December 9, 200520 yr Los Angeles Times December 9, 2005 Lockheed In U.S. Airship Deal By Reuters Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $149-million contract Thursday to build a prototype unmanned airship about 17 times the size of a Goodyear blimp that would hover about 60,000 feet above the Earth. The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said the High-Altitude Airship would be untethered, be able to remain in place for one month over a designated place, and be able to carry as many as 500 pounds of sensors that could detect enemy ballistic missiles. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said the program was aimed at exploring the possibility of using the airship to track and detect ballistic missile launches. Under the contract, which runs through November 2010, Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed would build and fly the prototype, to "prove its military utility," Lockheed spokeswoman Kate Dunlap said. The military has been exploring possible military uses of near-space vehicles partly because they are far less expensive to launch and operate than satellites.
December 10, 200520 yr Author Ah, just think of the nugget just finishing up with Pensacola, dream list...F-18, F-18, F-18.....No Son, you bet the diridgible, right over there.
December 10, 200520 yr Brad and I (and Brains) did some chatting on the IRC channel and tried a few things out. Seems we can make a blimp such as your story suggest stay in the air a very long time, almost 1500 days if it just sits there, plenty long enough for your average scenario. Well, Brad can make it, I just did the quick platform hacks to see if the game would be happy with a platform outside of the normal parameters (and it seemed happy enough). Now we'll see what magic Brad works and if we get to play with the beast for real. Thanks Pete
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