Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Old Airlift Vehicle Concept Made New

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the retro-tehnology-seems-to-be-in-style dept.

starexplorer writes "LiveScience is reporting on an early conceptual design of The Walrus the DOD's new planned 'very large airlift vehicle'." Could the concept of a 'war-balloon' really be gaining favor again?

3 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. seems sort of risky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I mean, I would assume they're not bulletproof or anything, so it seems sort of weird to field a giant cargo ship you can bring down with a .22

  2. Nick Fury's flying fortress! by zenneth · · Score: 0, Redundant

    We'll just put a few anti-everything-that-can-possibly-harm-us lasers (no sharks), a wholly capable tracking/guidance system, and a tremendous powerplant on some type of carbon-nanotube armored kevlar balloon and Presto! Instant Flying Dome o' Doom.

    --
    The Chronic *WHAT* les of Narnia!
  3. Re:At Last!!! by Savantissimo · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Hydrogen airships got a bad rap. It was the flammable coating on the Hindenburg's skin that was the main problem. Helium is too rare and useful for other things to waste in commercial airship transport. Helium comes from natural gas wells, not oil wells per se. And it's a fission byproduct, too - that should set the environmentalists off. And airships burn plenty of petrolum, too, though less than jets or perhaps even ships.

    --
    "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry