lighter-than-air vehicles - Defense Innovation Marketplace

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIn the Senate report accompanying S.1253 (S. Rept. 112-26) of the National DefenseAuthorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012, Congress tasked the Department of Defense(DoD) to provide the congressional defense committees a report that “reviews the status andfuture plans [for DoD funded aerostats, airships, and rigid aeroshell variable buoyancy vehicleprograms] to ensure that the most cost-effective systems are being pursued and that the highestpriority science and technology challenges for persistent unmanned capabilities are beingaddressed.” This document fulfills that tasking. Specifically, individual profiles for each DoDfunded program are given on pages 13–36 and 40–60. The profiles detail the program origin,current status, operational characteristics, and future plans for each of the DoD funded aerostat,airship, and rigid aeroshell variable buoyancy vehicles. Where applicable, the collaborationamong stakeholder organizations is noted in the program overview tables. The profiles alsohighlight technical objectives and science and technology challenges that are being addressed aspart of the programs. Many of these challenges are being assessed through development ofdemonstrator-scale and hangar-model systems to establish a baseline prior to full scale systemdevelopment. Moreover, small initial procurements and test platforms are being used in somecases to assess system and subsystem performance prior to higher volume acquisitions. 1After comprehensive review of the DoD funded aerostat and airship programs, the investmentsmade within DoD (including Service specific efforts) are addressing key technology areas thatwill enable viable lighter-than-air vehicles to contribute to our short, mid, and long term strategyfor national security and defense. These technical challenges include:Developing smaller aerostat systems with enhanced lift capabilities to provide small,mobile, tactical units with organic surveillance capabilitiesImproving aerostat platform survivability through the development of better flightguidelines, weather forecasting architecture, and software to provide automatic alerts forprotection against environmental stress factors such as lightning and wind microburstsIncreasing mission duration of airships through advanced hull designs, internal structuresand materialsEnabling vertical take-off and landing capabilities with minimal ground handling crewsthrough development of a variable buoyancy control system and advanced forward/aftmotion controlsDeveloping advanced intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communicationscapabilities through integrated sensor payloads and on-board processing for real-timeintelligence and post-mission forensicsMoreover, advances and investment in aerostat and airship technology are also being made in theprivate sector. The DoD is monitoring this progress and will continue to look for opportunities toadvance our objectives through commercially available technology.The data and information provided in this report is accurate as of June 2012.i