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2011-10-30 Science & Technology

First Navy airship in 50 years unveiled at NJ base

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Posted by Water Modem 2011-10-30 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top

#1 Airships are terribly frustrating. There are a huge number of advanced models that exist on the drawing board, but the only airships that are ever built use Sopwith Camel-era design and technology.

It is even worse that trying to float a new warship, in which every damn senior officer wants some change just so he can claim that it is "his change", most of which are demanded *after* the design is under construction. The USN is utterly incapable of saying "No!" to such people, so it can have a good design, on time and on budget.

When a new airship design comes down the line, it is so overloaded with bells & whistles that were it to be built, it could barely fly. This leads to a "the hell with it!" attitude, "let's just use the old design".

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-10-30 09:23|| 2011-10-30 09:23|| Front Page Top

#2 Anonymoose.
Welcome to the world of software development.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2011-10-30 11:34|| 2011-10-30 11:34|| Front Page Top

#3 Remember the Goodyear Airships.I do. They look great on a calm windless day. I saw one forced to the ground on a windy day. Going into the wind takes forever. It had several bounces on the farmland field when I saw it. Tether line dangling from the nose about two hundred yards long. Pass the Dramamine please.

Posted by Dale 2011-10-30 12:26|| 2011-10-30 12:26|| Front Page Top

#4 I still have a Navy dirigible pilot's pin...

Posted by Pappy 2011-10-30 12:48|| 2011-10-30 12:48|| Front Page Top

#5 "Airship" infers US Air Force = future "US Aerospace Force", NOT "Navy" = ships.

The Russkies know the score, + prob safe to say also RISING CHINA + IRAN, as ITO advanced-design dirigibles can play vital or decisive roles in "defensive" US GMD-TMD as well as "offensive" PROMPT GLOBAL STRIKE + ORBIT/SPACESTRIKE, etc - THEY WANT'EM EITHER PERMAMENTLY BANNED, OR ELSE FOR THE US TO GIVE DEEP ACCESS TO THE TECHNOLOGY = WAR MANAGEMENT/RESPONSE SYSTEMS.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-10-30 20:24|| 2011-10-30 20:24|| Front Page Top

#6 I always thought of salmon swimming upstream to their death. Where's the Zen in fighting the wind?

Throw enough of these cheap babies into the jetstream and we've got long dwell time/fast movers at 30k ft. instead of 300 miles.

Dip'em down to recharge their batteries with fresh seawater, use solar to disassociate the hydrogen for lift,...

Posted by Skidmark 2011-10-30 21:48|| 2011-10-30 21:48|| Front Page Top

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