Military zeppelin to land cargo sans runway

It goes without saying that air support is crucial in any theater of war, whether it is meant to shock and awe the enemy into submission, or to deliver supplies to base camp in the fastest time possible. The thing about planes is, you do need runways to take off and land, but with the new prototype zeppelins that Aeros Corp. is developing on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Pelican, as it is called, will merge the novel idea of an airship and airplane in order to carry cargo across long distances and not having to land on a runway.

The earliest test flights for the Pelican has been scheduled for early 2013, where the developers want to check out whether they are able to fly and control the aircraft. The future will see the Pelican tote around tons of cargo, similar to how current military cargo planes do. Good thing it lands and takes off vertically, and can also remain on the ground when being loaded without the need for tethers, not to mention having the advantage of landing in poor weather. The only drawback would be its inability to travel as fast as your standard airplane though.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Military
Tags: military