Could an airship solve travel woes in the Scottish Islands?

Any AEW with 50t of disposable payload available is going to be a chunky piece of kit; a Wedgetail weighs only 77 tonnes fully loaded and 46 empty. Yes, some weight would be for power generation and extra fuel for that, but you’d probably be not far off slinging Artisan or even Sampson underneath with 50t, for theatre-wide AWACS stuff.
I think using Airlander 10 for AEW would be more realistic, with the 50 only used, say, to lift a couple of F35s home for overhaul (something well within that envelope). In that case it would probably live on/floating around the carrier or an RFA, with crew rotation and refuelling once a week or so and maybe a landing or airship rotation in a maintenance emergency. The possibility of airship masts would be interesting. Then a Tide or FSSS would look after the airship and carry crew. My only worry is Airlander’s “Hybrid” designation. Doesn’t that mean that the buoyancy doesn’t actually provide enough lift for MTOW? In that case masts wouldn’t work. Only the Albions or Argus might just have a flight deck big enough, so sea landing and carriers would be the only option.

That’s a good question about hybrid. I don’t know. If it’s effectively STOL, that changes everything. There’s another technology that might come to the rescue. It’s possible to expand and compress the helium inside the airship to alter bouyancy. Perhaps having extra bouyancy when landing and less drag when moving will be the way it will go in the future. I don’t think HAV use this at the moment.

The hybrid means that it effectively takes off at an angle from a point like a bird. The forwards thrusters can be tilted to provide the necessary lift while speed builds up. That’s why Airlander isn’t marketed as an airship but as a “hybrid aircraft”: you still need clearance around the landing site to allow horizontal takeoff, even if that area isn’t actually touched by the craft.

Of the two available versions, Airlander 50 is probably the more useful design. The reason for this is is two fold. The 50 can carry more weight, so it will have more potential for future growth. The other is duration, it can do about 2000 miles at max load.

It would be very easy for Airlander to become an AEW platform. The helium filled envelop is a perfect environment for a radar. But as importantly, Airlander has the capacity to carry the Wedgetail’s MESA radar. Where the “top hat” antenna array can provide 360 degrees of view. The Erieye does not cover 360 degrees of view. It is questionable if the upper surface area covered in solar cells would be enough to power both the radar, systems and ship itself. It will likely require diesel powersets.

Using the larger version, means that you could carry a larger crew. Including all the necessary living accommodation and amenities. Therefore, you could employ enough “manpower” to cover a 24 hour shift, probably for a week or longer.

The radar is the key. Being installed on a large platform that has a very healthy weight margin, there is scope to increase the antenna array’s surface area, especially in the forward and rear arcs. This is the reason for going for the MESA over the Erieye. MESA will have a significant detection range advantage, due to its lower operating frequency. If the airship could generate the power, I wonder if Sampson (or son of) could be looked at?

However, for the MESA to have a 360 degree view, it uses reduced area arrays on the front and rear of the Top Hat, due to limitations on what can be fitted to the roof of the B737. So in essence, as the antenna array is protected inside the envelop, then the MESA could be configured in a four panel 90 degree field of view arrangement. Which would give equal detection ranges in all directions.

The MESA is a L-band radar, which means its great for very long distance searches using less power. But has issues detecting objects near the sea’s surface and differentiating objects from clutter, without a serious amount of signal processing. Therefore, the platform would need a secondary look-down radar operating in the X or Ka bands. Again using four AESA panels to give the all round view.

The Airship’s cruise speed is slow, between 50 to 100 knots. Plus it can’t fly as high as a Wedgetail’s 35,000+ft, at 20,000ft. Which is still higher than a Merlin can attain. Its radar horizon would still be around 200 miles (320km) away. Which is about the limit of most off the shelf X-band radars.

Giving the airship two radars operating at different frequencies, one doing volume searching, whilst the other watches the horizon and looks down. Means that it will be very hard to jam or uses decoys against it. Plus it opens other avenues on how the airship can be used.

The obvious choice is maritime surveillance. The X/K-band radar will be very good at spotting small objects on the sea, even a sub’s periscope.

Another choice would be as a communications node. There is plenty of space to fit a plethora of HF, VHF, UHF and SHF radio antennas, some of which can be electronically steered arrays. Thereby giving a degree of covert comm’s ability. If the airship is carrying radios etc, then it could also do radio intelligence gathering by linking electronic surveillance equipment to the radio and radar antennas.

I can think of other out of the box options the Airlander could be used for, think “Thunderbird 2”, minesweeper mothership and UAV carrier.

So yes, I am a firm believer in Airlander, as it could be used for a plethora of high end tasks. Where its long duration can be used to monitor areas for longer periods. Thereby a platform that combines the Wedgetail/Crownest AEW role, the P8 Poseidon’s Maritime role and perhaps even the RC-135W Rivet Joint’s signal intelligence role! Sadly it doesn’t fly fast enough to be used as an airborne tanker for fixed wing aircraft.

The issue would be the cost. If Airlander can build the airship significantly cheaper, like a quarter of the purchase price of a B737. Then its the systems and integration that will be the major cost factors. Though the biggest fight will be between the Navy and the RAF over who owns and operates it!

You mention the helium envelope. Does that mean the radar would be carried internally, making landing easier?
I’d rather the Navy had their own first-tier AEW than the RAF get two platforms, due to Airlander’s amphibious capability and near-VTOL in non-enclosed spaces. One could live near a CSG as outlined above and even if it can’t land on a ship due to increased size, would still be able to be maintained and supplied by accompanying RFAs.
I would enjoy a Thunderbird 2 Airlander or flying aircraft carrier that carries 2 or 3 Protector slung beneath and does refuelling and Comms node. Like a CSG but for the RAF

Yes, the MESA radar would be inside the envelop above the cabin. This will give it protection from the elements. The smaller X/Ku band could be in either the envelop or mounted to the sides of the cabin, as the panel arrays are much smaller. But if its expected to land on the water, its probably best to also put them in the envelop.

The Airlander has a broad range of possibilities. Which I believe raises more questions that need to be debated. For instance, could it be considered in the same light as a small ship, rather than an aircraft? As the Airlander 50 in particular, could be continuously on task for a week or two. Especially if it has a number of watches that cover a 24 hour period.

The minesweeper mothership role is an interesting possibility. Where it lands on the water to drop off unmanned surface vehicles to do the sweeping. That also contain the method of neutralising the mine. But as the airship can talk to the unmanned sweeper by datalink, it could have a number of these vessels active simultaneously. Thereby covering a much bigger area. Plus if operating where a Nation is known for harassment by small fast boats. Being airborne, the airship won’t be impeded. It could also be provided with a means of self-defence/offensive armament, if things needed to go kinetic.

But I do see Airlander 50 being particularly suited as a platform that supports a task group, be that carrier or amphibious. It would also be the perfect asset for supporting a merchant convoy that has escort ship protection. As the Airship can provide the over the horizon monitoring and targeting for the escort ships.

In light of these roles, I think it would be better suited as a Navy asset.

…that should read AWACS and of course the Skyships all had vectored thrust.