Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd (HAV) has announced the reservation of three Airlander 10 hybrid aircraft for military applications, marking the first defence order from the company’s $3.7 billion military pipeline.
The aircraft have been reserved by an undisclosed defence contractor aiming to demonstrate the platform’s potential for intelligence, logistics, and surveillance roles.
The Airlander 10, initially designed for civil certification, combines airship and fixed-wing technologies to deliver long-endurance, fuel-efficient flight. Its large, modular cabin allows for rapid reconfiguration, making it suitable for missions ranging from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to heavy transport and drone swarm deployment. HAV says the aircraft can remain airborne for up to five days without refuelling and can operate from almost any flat surface, including water.
In a statement, HAV described the aircraft’s potential to address emerging global threats. It highlighted applications such as elevated sensing for missile defence, counter-drone and drone swarm operations, and maritime patrol. “Airlander lifts a sensing payload of over three tonnes, enabling high-powered radars to remain aloft for days on end,” the company noted, adding that the platform can provide persistent surveillance and communication coverage over wide areas at a fraction of the cost of conventional aircraft.
George Land, HAV’s Executive Director of Sales, said, “Its versatility, high payload, and endurance have always given Airlander 10 obvious advantages over other aircraft in C4ISR. As warfare evolves to meet current threats this capability is ever more valuable. We are pleased to be working with an undisclosed customer to provide three aircraft for further customisation. We expect other military reservations to follow.”
The aircraft are expected to begin testing in 2027, with entry into service following type certification. Each Airlander 10 can carry up to 10 tonnes of cargo or 100 passengers, while future variants could scale up to lift 200 tonnes for global logistics and humanitarian operations.
Production of the Airlander 10 will take place at a new facility in South Yorkshire, which HAV says will form the centrepiece of a green aerospace manufacturing hub in the UK.
Leaving the all very mysterious question of who will be the end user to our imaginations. Is this so old a technology that it won’t need a dual use export license from the UK?
Don’t know, It’s all up in the air at the moment.
“Green Aerospace Manufacturing Hub”
To what degree is it Green ?
Is it the end product or the various stages involved in it’s production and Infrastructure ?
Airlander is ridiculously fuel efficient compared with helicopters and aeroplanes, IIRC it’s on about the same carbon footprint level as high speed trains and better than ferries with none of the infrastructure requirements.
The problem is that it’s really expensive per unit cargo, both because it’s an airship and because it isn’t in production yet.
Yes, I just read all the Corporate Guff on the site (talk of making inroads into existing Air Cargo flights with the usual American Hard Sell Wording!)
The fact it may be “Rediculously fuel efficient” is just a small part of the whole “Green” process though, It’s how green it is from the “drawing board” to the air.
How Green are it’s parts ?
How green is the build process ?
How green is it’s power usage during production ?
How environmently friendly is it over all ?
We all seem to suck up this Green Speak without question.
The perfect is the enemy of the good enough. It doesn’t have to be absolutely net zero if it’s substantially better than the alternatives.
So, Is it better then ?
Is it more green throughout it’s journey from concept to disposal ?
It’s no more environmentally unfriendly to produce than any other large aircraft, especially with all of the composites in modern airliners.
But saving fuel is a huge advantage, because to fly 3000 miles takes a normal aircraft tens of tonnes of fuel and produces tens of tonnes of CO2. If that can be cut by 80% as HAV claim then a well-used aircraft will definitely be better over its lifetime.
But for me the usefulness isn’t in how green it is, and I think it would be hypocritical for the RAF to start judging its aircraft by their green-ness when their eventual purpose is destruction. The usefulness is that it has twice the mission payload of a Merlin, not too far off a P8, but has 10 times the endurance of either of those. A crew of 4 or 5 can live on board for a working week and follow a Russian warship, submarine or cargo ship the whole time, or lift 10 tonnes of cargo to the middle of nowhere. The website has a load of guff about SWaP, but a more accurate description would be that it has the capacity of an airliner, the performance of a helicopter and the endurance of a small ship.
As you may be able to tell, I am a {slight} Airlander fanboy.
What’s the going rate for a commercial Airlander? Someone’s making a pretty expensive commitment to HAV here, at least £100m IIRC for three aircraft. If it’s a UK contractor it could only really be BAE, but HAV have been doing a lot of work in the US around Pacific logistics so it might be that.
The requirement for three separate aircraft is also interesting. One each for AEW, logistics/drone mother ship and MPA/ISR?
“ Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd (HAV) has announced the reservation of three Airlander 10 hybrid aircraft for military applications, marking the first defence order from the company’s $3.7 billion military pipeline”
How can the first defence order for three units equate to a $3.7Bn military pipeline?
Or am I missing something?
Corporate BS talk, It’s been “Big’d” up for years.
These grand projects come along every so often, suck up huge amounts of money making people rich and then disapeer without trace.
Hopefully this will buck that trend and become the success It seems to be on the website.
I think their first commercial order, from Spain, was increased to 20. When they finally get the licencing sorted out they look to be sitting pretty.
Spain placed a Reservation for 10 then 20, not sure if they can yet be quoted as actual sales.
Speculating a little as to final destination, it might be significant that earlier this year, HAV set up a subsidiary in the US, its President being a former USN officer.
Yes the USMC love the idea because it could lift cargo to uninhabited atolls over thousands of miles with no existing infrastructure and at a speed relevant to a Taiwan invasion scenario.
Airlander 50 would be even more useful.