The story of the Airlander 10 is quite peculiar: it began as an exclusive project for the US military, but after the general budget cut in 2013, its manufacturer, Hybrid Air Vehicles managed to recover the prototype in exchange for "coins". The hybrid aircraft was reassembled, reconditioned, and put on display once more. Its first official flight as a civilian vehicle took place a couple of days ago, and if everything goes well for the manufacturer, there could be a hundred units ready within the next five years.
A Brief History
Let's take a trip back to June 2010. At that time, the US Army (specifically its SMDC division) and Northrop Grumman signed an agreement to carry out the LEMV project, which stands for "Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle". In essence, the Army wanted an airship capable of operating at an altitude of six kilometers (and staying there for several days), with a range of three thousand kilometers, reusable, compatible with geostationary operations, and independent of any traditional runway. Faced with these requirements, the project turned to the HAV304 platform created by Hybrid Air Vehicles (one of Northrop Grumman's contract manufacturers), and its first flight as a LEMV prototype was in August 2012.
However, in 2013 the US government decided to cut costs with the delicacy of a chainsaw, and the LEMV fell victim to the cut. By then, almost 300 million dollars had been invested, and since the main reason for the interruption was economic, Hybrid Air Vehicles offered to buy the prototype to recover it. The Pentagon authorized the sale for a modest $301,000, and three years later, the HAV304 returns to the skies under the name Airlander 10.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/-daB1sUPoAIThe Airlander 10 in Detail
The company describes it as "a hybrid vehicle", as it combines technology from airships, airplanes, and helicopters. At 92 meters in length, the Airlander 10 is the largest aircraft currently in operation, surpassing even the impressive Antonov An-225.
Its technical specifications describe four turbocharged V8 diesel engines, enabling a cruise speed of 148 kilometers per hour. Its maximum altitude is 4,880 meters, and it can carry up to ten tons of cargo. If my conversion skills are correct, the Airlander 10 needs almost 37,000 cubic meters of helium to stay airborne (so it won't burn like a giant matchstick in the style of the Hindenburg), which it can do for five days as long as it is manned.
Of the original 300 million, Hybrid Air Vehicles received 100 million to build the Airlander 10, recovered it with 0.3 percent of the original cost, and now believes there could be a hundred identical aircraft within the next five years, at a price of 29 million euros each. Who would pay that? Surprisingly, other military forces. The original objective of the Airlander 10 was intelligence, surveillance, and tracking of ground movements, but being so large, it also serves as a very effective deterrent, a "military Big Brother among the clouds", if you can call it that. Anyone wanting to shoot it down would need a fairly advanced ground-to-air system or deploy fighters, because at 4,000 meters altitude rifles are not an option, and its three-layer hull, which includes one made of Vectran, is very resistant.
