Dec 30 2010
It is reported that the gigantic LEMV reconnaissance airships being constructed for serving the US Army by British designers can transport extensive amount of cargoes. Alan Metzger, project chief remarked to Aviation Week, that the huge airships are built for replacing the mission and fuel components with cargo modules.
The LEMV ships have the potential to transport about 2,500lb payload of sensing units and transmission systems on unmanned missions for about 21 days. These ships are 300-foot-long and can be manned or unmanned depending upon the requirement. For instance, they will be piloted when transiting civil-regulated airspace, whereas for long surveillance missions, these airships are generally regulated from a terrain station.
Exchanging the mission systems will allow a LEMV to transport 2,500lb of the initial cargo load. But for three-week missions the ships spend plenty of fuel space for shorter flights of just a few days or less, suggesting that larger cargoes could be carried.
The airship's carrying efficiency declines with its increasing altitude.Its ceiling is fixed with respect to its pressure height i.e. the altitude in which the airship’s helium lifting gas has expanded to occupy all the unfilled space inside the envelope. To achieve higher pressure height, less gas must be set into the airship to start with, for carrying less stuff from the ground.
Source: http://www.army.mil