Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap 2005-2030 - Federation of ...

UAS ROADMAP 2005
2.5 UNMANNED AIRSHIPS
A number of unmanned airship projects, both free-flying and tethered (aerostats), have been initiated to
provide synergistic capabilities to those provided by unmanned aircraft, most notably extended
persistence. Such airships are capable of endurances ranging from 5 days (RAID) to a month (JLENS)
and primarily provide local area surveillance for defensive roles, such as force protection and cruise
missile detection. A number of aerostats are now employed in the force protection role in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Psychological operations (TARS) and border monitoring (TARS) are other niche roles in
which they can complement aircraft. There appears to be potential for synergy between airships and UAS
that enhance capability or reduce cost in several mission applications including force protection, signals
intelligence collection, communications relay and navigation enhancement. Airships most significant
challenge appears to be limited mobility.
2.5.1 Advanced Airship Flying Laboratory
User Service: Navy
Manufacturer: American Blimp Corporation
Inventory: 0 Delivered/1 Planned
Background: The Advanced Airship Flying Laboratory
(AAFL) will serve as a prototype test bed for improving the
state-of-the-art of airship systems technologies, ISR sensors,
related processors, and communications networks. The
initial airship systems to be developed and tested will be bow thrusters for slow speed control authority to
reduce ground crew requirements; heavy fuel engines to increase efficiency, safety, and military
operations interoperability; and automated flight controls to increase payload, altitude, and reduce flight
operations costs. AAFL will be equipped with dedicated hard points, equipment racks, high bandwidth
network interfaces, and 5 kW of power for rapid integration to test a great variety of Network Centric
Warfare payload options from a persistent ISR platform.
Characteristics:
AAFL AAFL
Length 200 ft Tail Span 55 ft
Volume 275,000 ft 3
Payload Capacity 1,000 lb
Performance:
Endurance 48 hr Altitude 20,000 ft
Sensor Various Sensor Make TBD
SECTION 2 - CURRENT UA PROGRAMS
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