Yuanmeng
This concept art shows 18,000 cubic meter Yuanmeng
airship 20km above the ground (and for some reason, off the coast of the
Mid Atlantic U.S.). One of the highest flying airships, the Yuanmeng
can provide wide area surveillance and communications capability.
On October 13, 2015, China started the 24 hour
test flight of its largest airship yet in Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia. The
Yuanmeng has a volume of 18,000 cubic meters, a length of 75 meters and
a height of 22 meters. It will fly to 20,000 meters to test its control
systems and near-space flight performance. With solar panels installed
on its top, the Yuanmeng will be one of the largest solar-powered
airships in existence. Using solar power to drive its rotors will save
additional weight in order to increase payload, and gives it a total
flight endurance of six months. The Yuanmeng's 5- to 7-ton payload of
data relays, datalinks, cameras and other sensors would also be powered
by the sun.
Like its smaller American counterpart, the JLENS
(currently parked outside Washington DC), the Yuanmeng can use its
sensors and high altitude to detect threats such as stealth aircraft,
cruise missiles, missile launchers, and warships from several hundred
miles away. But the Yuanmeng has other advantages over the JLENS.
While the JLENS is an aerostat, anchored to one location by a 3,000m
long tether, the Yuanmeng can freely move about and be redeployed. Its
high flight altitude also gives the Yuanmeng's sensors superior
situational awareness, and the ability to act as a communications rely
to Chinese aircraft and drones in the event of a loss in satellite
communications.
Yu Quan, a scientist of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering, notes that airships are ideal for long duration flights in
near space (the atmosphere between 20km to 100km altitude), though
thermal expansion from day and night temperature differentials are a
design issue. Operating higher in near space means that the Yuanmeng
would have constant line of sight over a hundred thousand square
miles--an important requirement for radar and imaging. Increased sensor
coverage means increased warning time against stealthy threats such as
cruise missiles, giving Chinese forces a greater opportunity to detect
and shoot down such threats. It would also be harder for fighters and
surface-to-air missiles to attack near space objects.
The program may be the start of a wider
portfolio of large airships. China Aviation Industry General Aircraft
Co. Ltd. (CAIGA), a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry Group, has
partnered with Flying Whales, a French company to build heavy airships,
with a 60-ton payload cargo airship reported to be their first aircraft.
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