ACE Army Airship Blimp Dirigible UAV RC

[latte123]

Very nice! Airships **definitely** have a place in the military of today. Very cheap to operate, can loiter in an area for a long time.

[Thetrutv]

What happens if it gos heigher than 10.000 ALT?

[drewboy108]

@Thetrutv the helium gas expands and the envelope could explode

[Thetrutv]

@drewboy108 Really?

[drewboy108]

@Thetrutv really

[heliumblimp]

These small aerostats are not much use in a combat zone as they can't fly high enough to avoid groundfire, their payload is very limited and worst of all they have limited endurance. The US Army has ordered the real thing from Northrop Grumman and Hybrid Air Vehicles. Regards JB ( 3w hybridairship dotty net )

[Raguleader]

@Proudamerican2000 The ladies love Call of Duty

[Raguleader]

@Proudamerican2000 Don't really need weapons or good looks to be very handy. Just look at the C-130, one of the ugliest unarmed planes in the western world, and also one of the most useful and versatile.

[bessarabia7]

fuckin lunatics..you'd rather send that money to haiti..or somthing lie that

[skyship007]

Hi folks, That last comment about being difficult to shoot down is true, as they above small arms and the IR signiture is no good for a missile. Big news at present is the US Army LEMV contract for Northrop Grumman and partner Hybrid Air Vehicles in Cardingtom England. For more info try the following sites, HAV: 3w dot hybridairvehicles dot nett but one t ABC: 3w dot airshipblimp dot kom

 GASBAGS: 3w dot airship dot me

Regards JB

[PatrickLohKamp]

this is a pretty cool project.

[shockflyyer3d]

all you need is a gps and a RX

[discoii004]

It'll never work!

[Leshiye69]

@discoii004

Does work and has been working since the early nineties. 98C here : )

[discoii004]

It was built in 2004.

[FuckAnPWorkAtBurgerK]

Ultimate RC !

[jjjazzycraig]

this has to be the kewlest MOS's EVER.

[candr]

These are not for weapons platforms, they are for recon. They have been used in border recon for years. Durning the gulf tanker wars the radar could take in a large area in the gulf to detect Exocets that are low to the level of the sea (remember U.S.S. Stark) and warn before it comes over the horizon. As for shooting it down with hand weapons LOL. In ww1 the airships of that era were filled with 50's and still flew. not until pyrotechnic charge ammo to inite the hydrogen did they worry.

[snowwarrior88]

Those WWII blimp hangars are cool. Where are these ones?

[mixmastamike1]

El Toro in Irvine CA

[discoii004]

These hangars are at Lakehurst NJ. That's hangar 5. Hangar 1 used to be the US home for the Hindenburg. They're HUGE!

[nikkii191]

weapon tests on airships showed that they can take hundreds of rounds of small arms fire before loss of bouyancy and even mortar rounds passing through the envelope did not cause massive deflation not to mention the simple fact that helium is a natural fire retardent and depending on the design an unmanned airship could stay on station for months makes it an excellent platform

[WA4RRN]

What's its intended use? Over hostile territory it looks to be an excellent target practice device for the enemy...

[pilotcoolbiz]

com link

[WA4RRN]

Ya gotta be joking??? STILL looks to be ab excellent target oractice target for our enemies to sharpen up theirs shooting skills!

I was a Grunt along the III Corps area of Cambodia in '69 n' we Grunts used to dream about training our m-16s n' m-60s on Gook choppers flying around us!!!

Have YOU taken da Oath and served in our Military???

[WA4RRN]

PilotCoolBiz...Ya know, after about 10 minutes o' ruminatin' over your dumbassed bullshit, I'd say you B dangerous to the security of our Military...

[pilotcoolbiz]

So sorry you feel that way. However, if you think you can hit a 100' airship that is flying at 8,000 feet AGL, and standing off 50 clicks, go for it. I am trying to be as polite as possible by saying... "You have no idea what you are talking about". Pilotcoolbiz USMC 0311

[pilotcoolbiz]

And after thinking about it for 10 minutes myself... You my Marine Brother, are the dumbass here. It would take more small arms fire than a platoon could even carry. (And yes, an M-60 would be considered small arms fire). The BDA Studies are impressive. And the most obvious reason to use this technology is that none of our pilots risk their lives in combat. You can buy this ship for the cost of a few loads of missles on an F-16. Wake up dude, and see the bigger picture.

[roidroid]

Wow WA4RRN, way to play into the dumbass soldier stereotype.

[WA4RRN]

Maybe the 3 of us could get a grant to demonstrate how easily it will shot down?

[MokomaSusi]

People like you are the reason why US army still uses M4 and M16.

Well, at least american SF got a new rifle.

[Raguleader]

@WA4RRN Well, the idea is that you wouldn't use it in contested airspace. You'd gain air dominance first, and then you could use this to vastly improve your communications coverage over the antenna you could put on trucks or soldiers' backpacks. You don't need to build a tower, and you don't need to burn a lot of fuel keeping a plane up in the air doing the same job.

[WA4RRN]

@Raguleader Been a long time since I watched that video! Sure, in any "uncontested" airspace, it can serve some sort of useful purposes. In any war zone, though, ALL "space" will be contested!

Military communications, even local tactical, are hardly at issue now. 40 years ago, in NAM, different ballgame. I would have traded both testicles in return for our present GPS system back then...the ARTY Dudes used to scare hell out of us!!!

BOB...A Co, 1/8, 1st Cav Div, 69-70

[eventress]

coulden't aircraft just do that??? They are faster and could climb higher. the only thing blimps have over aircraft is that aircraft need a runway

[pilotcoolbiz]

The one thing that you are over looking is the constant loiter times.  This ship can stay on station for over 30 hours. Let's see another type of aircraft do that. And at a very low cost.

[ericssson]

Great footage

[zeppelintours]

Fascinating video on a lesser known aspect of lighter-than-air operations. zeppelins