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Missile Defense Blimp Closer to Taking Flight U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin received a $40 million contract yesterday to design a 500-foot-long, unpiloted, radar-carrying blimp for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (see GSN, April 21). The contractor’s Maritime Systems and Sensors division in Akron, Ohio, made the winning bid in a competition with two other firms to build an airship that would be able to fly for months at a time to detect and track missile launches, aircraft, ships at sea and other objects. Measuring 500 feet long and 160 feet in diameter, the helium-filled blimp would be 25 times larger in volume than the Goodyear blimp (Associated Press, Sept. 30). The solar-powered dirigible would be able to fly at 65,000 feet where low turbulence would allow it to loiter over areas of concern for months at a time. Company officials said airships had several advantages over satellite-based radars, including a lower operating altitude, lower launch costs and the ability to modify the equipment deployed on the craft. “Once a satellite is up, it’s up,” said Al Barber, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager in Akron. Following the $40 million design phase, the MDA is expected to decide next summer whether to order the construction of a prototype airship, now estimated to cost $50 million, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. If ordered, the prototype could fly in 2006 and the agency would then consider whether to begin production (John Russell, Akron Beacon Journal, Sept. 30).
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