The military has been on a blimp bender lately. They can stay in the air longer than any drone (by days) and haul much more gear. There have been three airship surges since last fall, as these vehicles have become the military’s favourite surveillance tool in Afghanistan, where several dozen are already deployed. The military has already been struggling to get enough gas to fill those ships, but things are about to get kicked up a notch.
Next year the military is planning on sending two ginormous blimps to Afghanistan. We’re talking longer than a football field and taller than a seven-storey building. That duckie needs 22,653 cubic metres of helium to make it float. When the military put out the order, none of their suppliers could handle it, and the order had to be broken up into smaller pieces. With the armed forces already planning to use more and more (and more biggerer) aerostats (that’s the broad family name for airships, balloons and blimps) between now and 2017, things could get very tricky, and very expensive, very soon. [Wired]
Image: Getty/US Navy
EckyThump
Friday, September 23, 2011 at 10:33 AMAnybody else remember why the Hindenburg had to use Hydrogen instead of Helium? Seems the shoe is on the other foot now huh! #]
Evan
Friday, September 23, 2011 at 3:12 PMThe Makers of Hindenberg had no ready access to Helium as the only natural source is in the US (and for some idiotic reason the US has legislation requiring their source to be exhausted asap). Hydrogen is readily available and in abundant supply.
At this time it is important to point out that Hydrogen DID NOT cause the downfall of the Hindenberg. The fact is that Hindenberg was covered with the perfect material for an airship if your purpose was to cause it to catch fire and fall to earth! Hindenberg built up a lot of static charge in flight and the day it arrived at its final destination there were thunderstorms in the area. I have no doubt that it was the combination of these events that brought down Hindenberg, which burned with a yellow flame. Hydrogen burns with a faint blue flame and that was just not evident in any of the movie film taken of the event.
EckyThump
Friday, September 23, 2011 at 3:21 PMYeah dude, I’m pretty sure that was what I was hinting at, but thanks for explaining it so succinctly!