Northrop Grumman said this week it will launch a remotely piloted airship designed for military use sometime this summer. The airship will be more than 300 feet long and 70 feet tall, and capable of staying aloft for more than three weeks at a time. The Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) is designed for use by the Army as a surveillance and reconnaissance platform. Alan Metzger, the leader of Northrop Grumman's airship team, said the ship will be ready for hull inflation in the spring and first flight by mid-to-late summer. Test flights should be complete by the end of the year, and in 2012 the LEMV will participate in an Army Joint Military Utility Assessment in an operational environment. "As you can imagine, it's a very aggressive schedule to deliver from concept-to-combat in [an 18-month] period," Metzger said.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/unmanned-airship-to-launch-this-year