Oh, for humanity – do not discount airships
U.K.-based Straightline is finalizing a US$480 million purchase agreement with U.S.-based Lockheed Martin for 12 hybrid airships. Intended to provide transport services to remote, extractive industry operations and in Northern Canada, Alaska, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the airships are expected to move 20 tonnes of cargo at a speed of 110 km/h.
As written by Bill Graveland of The Canadian Press, “Zeppelins have long been held out as a promising idea to serve as a workhorse in Canada’s North and the oilsands, where huge pieces of heavy equipment often need to be transported to places with no all-weather roads.”
The Tech-K.O. Takeaway: Could airships catalyze an entirely new vision of life and living in the Far North?
- Full story at Canadian Manufacturing.
- Photo: Rendering of Lockheed Martin’s Hybrid Airship. The company has a fully-functional demonstrator and is currently pursuing buyers (Lockheed Martin in Canadian Manufacturing).