A new hybrid air vehicle built by Northrop Grumman and Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd. for the U.S. Army flew for the first time last August, but the project now has been cancelled, according to a recent report in Wired. The remotely operated airship, which is about 300 feet long, is capable of carrying up to 2,500 pounds of payload, and was intended as a reconnaissance vessel that could be deployed for weeks at a time in advance of ground troops. "Due to technical and performance challenges, and the limitations imposed by constrained resources, the Army has determined to discontinue the LEMV [long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle] development effort," Army spokesman Dov Schwartz told Wired in an email last week.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/spy-blimp-axed