David Learmount/LONDON
Cargolifter has been given the go-ahead by its shareholders to take the next step towards launching a new heavylift airship - billed by the German start-up company as the largest ever flown.
Cargolifter was formed nearly two years ago with the aim of finding a solution to the increasing economic penalties of delivering heavy industrial equipment, such as power generation plant, by surface transport.
Early backing came from German industrial giants ABB, Siemens and Thyssen, but Cargolifter has since been launched as a public company with total capital of DM80 million ($44 million), including investment from the USA and major German banks.
After a meeting earlier this month, Cargolifter says it has finalised the company's structure and cemented production plans for the first CL160 airship. A design freeze is expected by November.
Work on a giant assembly hangar at the Brand airfield, 50km (30 miles) south of Berlin, is due to start next month, with completion set for mid-1999. The first operational airship, with a 160t payload and cruising speed of 45-55kt (80-100km/h), is planned for certification in 2003. With further development, payload could reach 500t, says Cargolifter. The airship will be 242m long and 61m in girth.
Each airship is due to cost $55-61 million. A market of 200-300 units is envisaged over the next 20 years. Cargolifter is already looking at a US base and says long-term plans include expansion to South America and Asia. Cargolifter vice-president technical Gil Chenery, aware of the failure of other recent attempts to make airships commercially viable, stresses that the aim is to create "a logistics, not an airship, company".
The promise is to allow manufacturers to transport entire pieces of heavy equipment, such as hydroelectric generators or bridge sections, straight from the point of manufacture directly on to their foundations on site.
The CL 160 is designed to have a range of 5,400nm (1,000km) working at a height of below 7,000ft (2,100m). The craft will be powered by four to six diesel engines, and discussions have also taken place with Rolls-Royce Turboméca about using the RTM 322 helicopter engine as a positioning engine.
Source: Flight International
