US looking to deploy long-endurance hybrid airship over Afghanistan
By Donald Melanson 
posted September 23rd 2009 6:15AM
posted September 23rd 2009 6:15AM
We may see more airship proposals than actual airships 'round these parts, but it looks like this massive dirigible from Lockheed Martin will indeed be taking flight sooner rather than later, and could see action in Afghanistan by mid-2011. Dubbed the LEMV (or Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle), the airship is apparently "optionally manned," and can stay aloft at 20,000 feet for up to 21 days at a time, while also carrying a payload of up to 2,500 pounds. That relatively fast deployment is aided in part by the fact that the airship is basically a larger version of Lockheed's P-791 (twice as big, in fact), which has already flown six times and, as you can see in the video after the break, is pretty massive in its own right.
[Via The Register]
[Via The Register]
The plastic surgeons at Lockheed have gone too far!
the military will probably use it like the blimp they had over Afghanistan http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/19/AR2009081903712.html
What's with the Terminator-like music? Maybe this thing is what will put the sky in Skynet.
holy ass cheeks!
Shotgun.