Zeppelin: Walrus Heavy-Lift Blimp Rises, Falls… Rises?

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/walrus-heavylift-blimp-getting-off-the-ground-01103/

In April 2005, "USN, DARPA See Blimps & HULAs Rising", looked at a range of projects on the drawing board, including the Walrus heavy-transport blimp (that's "heavy" as in "1-2 million pounds") which offered the potential for a faster and more versatile sealift substitute.
In this article DID explains the Walrus concept, details the contractors and contracts involved in this initial award (including a few updates), and lays out the program's structure… or at least, what used to be its structure. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded phase 1 contracts, but things seemed to end in 2006. Yet the imperatives driving the need for Walrus, or even for a much smaller version of it, remain. Is the Walrus dead? What about Paul? And could it, or a HULA like like it, rise again?






Additional Readings

• DARPA (Feb 1/05, PS 05-01) – WALRUS – Global Reach Air Vehicle [PDF]

• DARPA – Next Generation Aerostructures [PDF]

• Gizmag – The Walrus: the US Army contemplates building an aircraft the size of a football field

• Aeros – Aeroscraft ML866.

• Millenium Airship, Inc. Skyfreighter. See also their ITAMMS technology for thrust/lift.

• Dedicated LTA builder World SkyCat also failed to receive a DARPA contract. Their site is highly worthwhile, however, especially for all the variants of HULA craft they propose (and justify) for specialized uses, and their incorporation of operating cost figures. The economics of SkyGas and SkyPipeline were especially interesting, as commercial demand would push per-unit HULA costs down and ensure open production lines (and hence additional military procurement options) much more consistently than reliance on pure military orders.

• DID – Boeing’s Skyhook Shot: Redefining the Aerial Heavy-Lift Market? Their Skyhook 40 partnership aims to create a commercial airship whose performance would be very close to the intended Walrus demonstrator.

• Defense Transportation Journal (June 2008) – Air Born: Leading the way – Overcoming Barriers to Force Movement [PDF]. By Gen. William Tuttle, Jr., USA (Ret.).

• US Air Force Journal of Logistics (Volume XXIX, Number 3/4, Fall/Winter 2005) – Back to the Future: Airships and the Coming Revolution in Strategic Airlift [PDF]

• DID (March 17/06) – Energy Conservation Moving Up Pentagon’s Agenda. The Army Corps of Engineers forecasts that fuel availability and cost may become an important constraint on future operations. That has implications for transport and aviation.

• DID (Feb 17/06) – Aeros Dreaming Big With Walrus Project. LA Times: “An obscure Tarzana firm run by Russian emigres is locked in competition with Lockheed Martin Corp., the world’s largest defense contractor, to win a Pentagon contract to build 900-foot- long, blimp-like aircraft to move cargo and troops into combat zones.”

• DID (Oct 21/05) – US CBO Gives OK to HULA Airships for Airlift. the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan analytical arm of the US Congress, “likes the heavy-lift airship concept because it could do more than the airlift aircraft and surge sealift capabilities currently used when U.S. forces deploy.” DID went and found that report, which offers some interesting conclusions…

• DID (July 6/05) – USAF Looking at “Near-Space” Blimps. Interest takes the next step via a positive formal report to the USAF.

• DID (Apr 26/05) – USN, DARPA See Blimps & HULAs Rising

• Book: The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee. Fascinating book. This isn’t the first time someone has floated a similar idea. In the 1930s, a group of visionaries also attempted to develop a hybrid blimp/aircraft with these kinds of capabilities. Its early and secret experimental development took 12 years time, and $1.5 million dollars that came came from private individuals. Much of it was raised by the minister of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Trenton, New Jersey, who initiated the project. See also: Amazon.com