DARPA'S DIRIGIBLE

ASEE Prism, Nov 2004 by Grose, Thomas K

DEFENSE

A PENTAGON GOAL is an 1,800-person,"ready to fight" infantry force that can be deployed anywhere in the world within 96 hours, complete with equipment (including armor). So the folks at the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) are looking for a contractor to design and build a high-tech airship capable of carrying such a unit en mass. Codenamed Walrus, the airship will conceivably be able to carry between 500 to 1,000 tons and have a range of 6,000 nautical miles. It would combine proven lighter-than-air gas buoyancy with cutting-edge aerodynamics and propulsion systems. DARPA wants a model of the mega-airship ready by 2008 to test the "feasibility and viability" of the concept. Airships are safe and reliable, but current models are weather-dependent and require complex ground operations. Those are hurdles that engineers will have to breeze past if DARPA's Walrus is ever to fly. -TG