The Walrus: the US Army contemplates building an aircraft the size of a football field

Millennium Airship Inc.’s heavy-lift aircraft design concept is named SkyFreighter, and includes an innovative Integrated Thrust and Maneuvering Management System (ITAMMS) combined with ThrustWing technology which the company claims will deliver complete controllability including vertical (VTOL) capability. SkyFreighter would also be amphibious, opening possibilities for infrastructure-independent shipment of cargo worldwide. Such an aircraft would be manoeuvrable enough to operate virtually anywhere (land or sea) where there is enough space to accommodate its size. The operational objectives of the SkyFreighter are to build an airship that has full VTOL and cross-wind capability, while also being able to operate without the need for any ground based infrastructure or reception facilities at the point of delivery of its cargo....worldwide

Borrowing heavily from the words on the Millenium Airship site, the SkyFreighter would “create a paradigm shift in the aviation and trans-oceanic freight industry with the ability to transport any product almost anywhere on the globe safely and quickly and most importantly, at very low cost.”

“This will eliminate the need for manufacturers to design and build large industrial equipment in pieces small enough to be transported over roads, etc., thus further reducing costs to the equipment manufacturer and ultimately their customers.”

“The commercial sector of our economy also requires air vehicles, such as the SkyFreighter, to augment the already burdened sea and air cargo business. SkyFreighter is especially adapt to carrying fully assembled, outsized, and bulky cargo at speeds up to 100 mph and up to 6,000 miles unrefueled.

“The air vehicles will come in four sizes of lift capability: 50 ton, 150 ton, 300 ton and 500 ton. View Fact Sheet

“The SkyFreighter fits very nicely in a niche between sea going vessels, which are much slower and can carry more tonnage, and other aircraft, which are faster but limited in tonnage and size of cargo. It is anticipated the commercial prototype aircraft design will start in late summer 2005.”

Potential backers for such a project can contact Millenium Airship here.

The paradigm shift

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