Thunderbird 2 – The media has reported the astonishing airship set to revolutionise haulage, tourism and warfare.   The AERSOCRAFT, heavily backed by the U.S. Military, it is now at the prototype stage and is set for its first test flight.    It is capable of vertical takeoff and landing and does not need a landing strip.    The AEROSCRAFT can carry three times more than the biggest military cargo planes over thousands of miles and it looks uncannily like the Thunderbird 2 craft from the classic TV show, hence the headline.

A concept of the airship on the battlefield, where it could be used to transport tanks and soldiers directly onto the front line, it could also have major implications for cargo haulage, and almost everything now laboriously transported by boat, train and lorry or the skies.      California based aviation Worldwide Aeros Corporation has been developing their revolutionary AEROSCRAFT concept for several years, and it is now in its final stages, they have built a prototype which they hope will finally prove the concept works in practice.   At 250ft in length, it is just half the size of the final model, but has been built with the same rigid structure, flight control systems and landing gear.   The AEROSCRAFT ML866 has a planned 20 tonne lifting capacity, and the announced a 60 ton ML868 and the 500 ton ML86X are in the pipeline.

As well as its horizonal propellers, the rigid airship has six downward pointing turbofan jet engines for vertical take-off and landing.     The craft also uses Dynamic Buoyancy Management, a novel technology which controls buoyancy by compressing its helium gas into pressurised tanks while taking air from the surrounding atmosphere into the vacant space inside the rigid structure, thus creating negative buoyancy. Releasing the compressed helium into the gas bags expanding inside the structure displaces the air and creates positive buoyancy.   These systems make the AEROSCRAFT capable of landing on rough or snowy terrain, or on water.      The manufacturer envisions commercial use as a cargo carrier which could deliver a large amount of merchandise from a centralised location.       The half size prototype is preparing for its first flight in 2013 and the planned full scale version, but will incorporate the same structure and avionics  will fly in 2016 and will have a 3,000 mile range and a 66 ton cargo capacity; with a top speed of 140 mph and a service ceiling of 18,000 ft.

What are the maritime applications for an AEROSCRAFT rigid airship ?   It would also be able to reach isolated communities, including many remote islands in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but for example the current range quoted would not allow the machine to take over the Air Bridge role between Ascension and the Falklands which is an obvious application with great potential.