Lockheed-Martin "Skunk Works" P791 video

[Pavel]

Guys, I think it's wonderful Amazing stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3n5cUaG5fg

[Stealthflanker]

I feel that Red Stars being challenged here so i presented to anyone here

EKIP (Ekologiya I Progress)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4e-HzygJo

[bluehound35]

Yes, they finally made a flying butt!!!!!!!!!

Seriously though, 4 fans and 2 sets os stabilizing fins. What are they trying to study? I can see a potential transportation use, but even then, it is possible to design a more effecient type of hover machine. Maybe just studying hover systems I guess.

[Pavel]

Why are you so skeptical? I've read about them, it's excellent flying machine. Cheap, ecological, requires much less landing strip - actually it can land on unprepared fields.

Using gas lifting force together with wing lifting force (all the hull of this thing works as a wing when it get's horizontal speed) is very effective.

[bluehound35]

Originally Posted by Pavel

Why are you so skeptical? I've read about them, it's excellent flying machine. Cheap, ecological, requires much less landing strip - actually it can land on unprepared fields.

Using gas lifting force together with wing lifting force (all the hull of this thing works as a wing when it get's horizontal speed) is very effective.

Trust me the last thing I prefer to do is criticize the work of a thinker. But, the fact remains that this piece of engineering has no relevance to anything. There is absolutely nothing new about this machine and since its not being used for any comercial or miltary purposes, there is no point for why it should have been constructed.

[HunterFN]

Time for you to open your eyes a bit my friend.

Do you not see the huge potential in airships? Their lifting capacity is immense compared to any fixed wing aircraft, and they are incredibly fast compared to ships... This would open entirely new possibilities when ti comes to bulk transport and of course, military applications.

Tech demonstrators are always needed with new designs

[bluehound35]

Better to use a couple of planes instead of a airship. Too costly, too exposed, and too ineffecient. There is a reason airships aren't used anymore. Those that will be created(very few) will be used for transportation only. I suppose a country with a 700 billion dollar military budget can afford to play around with these kinds of ideas. But, when Obama enters that office, playtime is over!!!

[HunterFN]

You don't get it.

Planes are NOT efficient. They take up shitloads of fuel to carry small, size limited and weight limited cargo.

The only reason airships aren't used anymore is because people are idiots and abandon good plans after a few scary situations.

There is no cheaper and more efficient way of carrying around heavy cargo.

Imagine you have to deploy heavy armour and artillery to a distant destination. A ship will take weeks to arrive, planes are not large enough to carry the cargo. Cargo needs to arrive as fast as possible. What ya gonna do? You're faster than a ship and you can carry alot more stuff than a heavy airlifter, without any of the need for support facilities etc.

Same idea applies to any large bulk cargo. Faster is usually cheaper too.

[bluehound35]

Are you seriously suggesting that flying an enormous airship full of tanks in a hostile nation is actually plausible? How exactly is an airship faster than a plane anyway? The simple fact is that not enough research has been given to these types of machines to prove their capabilities beyond commercial transportation. Stick with whats been proven.

[Carlo]

I think there is a misunderstanding between HunterFN and Bluehound. The first is not stating that airships should be used in battle conditions, but for long range ferries: let's say, for example, send tanks and other heavy cargo to Kuwait or Tadjikistan (friendly nations) and, from there, to Iraq or Afghanistan. In this case, yes, HunterFN is right, airships could be a good idea: cheaper and with a much bigger payload than airplanes, and faster than ships. But to use these in a hostile environment (say, overflying a enemy nation, and even countries with an active resistance like Iraq) than Bluehound is right, it would be a suicide, as these are large, unprotected and slow targets. Though an airship could easily overfly Iraq or Afghanistan flying high, where it would be out of range for personal weapons and manpads.