Thanks, trunkmonk. The artist's drawing does look amazingly like the strat. Note, the #2 propulsion caption under the unmanned airship indicates the airship will rely on electric propellers.
By Frank Vizard
Illustration by Raz.Ro
Published in the January 2007 issue.
1 SOLAR PANELS
The design hasn't been finalized, but the unmanned radar airship will likely use top-mounted solar cells to stay aloft for up to a year. 2 PROPULSION
The airship will probably rely on low-speed electric propellers: It's intended to stay in one posi-
tion, at an altitude of more than 65,000 ft., for extended periods 3 RADAR ARRAY
The curved array will be attached to the airship's super-
structure, and will be able to monitor a 400-plus-mile swath of rural and urban terrain.
"Project ISIS" has the ring of a James Bond movie, but it actually comes from an acronym (albeit a clumsy one) for a new curved radar array being developed by Raytheon and DARPA, the Pentagon's research arm. The Integrated Sensor Is Structure concept calls for such arrays running along the wings, tail and underbelly of military or commercial aircraft. Eventually, it could replace the flat-panel radar antennas typically found in a plane’s nose, providing improved surveillance capabilities and better 360-degree threat detection. ISIS technology is set to debut in 2009 as part of a colossal unmanned airship parked at more than 65,000 ft. over combat zones. Bonding the ISIS radar to the airship's superstructure will cut down on overall weight, and allow for a huge, continuous array. At anywhere from 164 to 328 yards in length, the airship will be the largest airborne radar antenna ever built, able to track everything from aircraft to individual troops across hundreds of miles. Controlled remotely from the ground, the airship will ascend to the stratosphere and could take the place of standard surveillance aircraft, remaining in place for up to a year. Parts of the curved radar array have been tested successfully in the lab by Raytheon, but at press time no contracts had been announced for the design of the airship itself.
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