January 3, 201015 yr "The OTA will be for a five-year technology demonstration of an airship with three weeks' endurance, a 2,500lb payload with 16kW of power, and an operating altitude of 25,000ft, 80kt dash speed and 20kt station-keeping speed. The payload will include EO/IR sensors, SAR/GMTI radar and Sigint, plus communications relay." There's few things that should be unmanned. This is one of them. I was most surprised by the "20kt station-keeping." Somebody is optimistic about winds aloft! All that endurance could get us great intel as our Gucci ISR/EW systems drift into hostile areas... On the upside, probably not a terrible idea if a non-retard puts together the requirements. And has realistic expectations for its limits. And we don't replace all the heavy jets in our inventory with airships. Now who wants to ride this fat chick?
January 4, 201015 yr Why bother? According to Deptula, the F-22s and F-35s can provide all the ISR we need...
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