Going up, up and away

[question everything]

8/31/05

Going up, up and away

Tarzana firm part of project
By Jim Skeen, Staff Writer
LA Daily News

PALMDALE - Lockheed Martin and a Tarzana company have been hired by the Pentagon to study possible designs for a giant airship capable of transporting soldiers and gear around the world to battle areas.

Code-named "Walrus," this wouldn't be your great-grandfather's zeppelin.

"In distinct contrast to earlier-generation airships, the Walrus aircraft will be a heavier-than-air vehicle and will generate lift through a combination of aerodynamics, thrust vectoring and gas-buoyancy generation and management," the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said in a statement announcing the contract awards.

DARPA, the Pentagon agency that financed the early development of the stealth fighter, awarded a $2.9 million contract to Lockheed Martin in Palmdale and a $3.2 million contract to Aeros Aeronautical Systems Corp. of Tarzana for the first phase of work on Walrus.

More..

http://www2.dailynews.com/business/ci_2986965

Jim Skeen, [phone] [e-mail]

[SlipperySlope]

1. Blimps are cool

I wonder what civilian uses it could have?