A customer can ask for anything he/she wants
"HiSentinel clearly doesn't meet these requirements"
coastiretired
Real simple for you: Right now, who looks to even remotely meet the gov'ts demand for this project?l
Read anybody testing that kind of cake? me neither.
If they are crashing (hisentinel) with 50 lbs payloads, gosh
2500lbs for WEEKS on end. Right....
So if NOBODY can do it RIGHT NOW, then maybe they will take what they can get in the NEARFUTURE? yes?
If this thing were so nearterm, Lockheed should be able to RIGHT NOW, slap solar cells and electric engines on the GOODYEAR BLIMP, add autopilot and motor around for nearly a month.....
Nobody, as you keep insisting, is stating SWRI "SELL PRODUCTS" or even needs to. Right now NOBODY IS SELLING what the gov't wants on this project, anyway.
Gov't would be more than happy with a great design on this.....SWRI's forte perhaps, yes?
Do you see any one even remotely close to moving 2500 lbs, autonomously, using hybrid propulsion (solar+electic) a fuel source self generated, launched remotely, reusable, no aistrip, and for NEARLY A MONTH?
no
Altitude is almost a bad joke at this point because NOBODY has even come close to this at ANY ELEVATION. Hisentinel-50 handled 50 lbs and crashed with solar/electric.
LEMV CAN BE STRATOSHPERIC
YES, the Gov't as customer can ask for anything they want. The contention by some on this board, myself included, is that they (gov't) are not going to get it, Not even close, especially FAST-TRACKED as they are attempting to do.
Which OBVIOUSLY leads us to REDUCED LOADS, questions elevation (because frankly 20,000ft wind-wize is not even close to the sweet spot in the sky), and much more dollars spend.
ON THE SURFACE, this looks more like a gov't handout to research, so yes, IF NO ONE IS EVEN CLOSE to the govt specs,
SWRI should put their name down based on the work of the HISENTINEL. $5 million would help nicely am sure. Hey, at least they are closer to this project then anyone else i've seen who is throwing airships up.
Oh, simple solution for the weight. Gov't just buys more airships handling less payload.....boy, that was hard.
Most importantly, the gov'ts vision here is exactly what Kroplin warned about: solving a problem with flawed design (in this case the classic blimp design the big military contractors so love) by making it BIGGER (say for payloads sake) is doomed. This thing is going to be Streamlined like HISENTINEL/STS, and payload flexible, elevation is where ever is best to stay up for nearly a month.
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