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Hybrid Ultra Large Aircraft R&D Project

NAVAIR News Release

Press Release Number: EPX200305141

Release Date: 5/14/2003

NAVAIR Patuxent River, Md., will be host an industry day conference June 5 to discuss new technologies in the area of Hybrid Ultra Large Aircraft (HULA). This conference will be a forum to inform interested companies and individuals of the government's intent to explore hybrid aircraft technology for various military missions, especially for transglobal heavy life. The envisioned product of this effort is a family of HULA with a 30 to 1,000 ton payload capability which can transport outsized cargo between areas which lack prepared reception facilities, including operations from water.

Hybrid aircraft are lighter than air vehicles which combine static lift from the buoyancy of helium gas with aerodynamic lift derived from the lifting body shape of the pressure envelope. A feature that is vital to the perceived military utility of a HULA is its ability to operate from unprepared surfaces and without forward base support; it is not dependent upon access to runways or seaports. The program plan entails beginning with the design, construction, flight test and evaluation of relatively small 500 pound payload models which will serve to create a data base of information on aerodynamic and control characteristics and yield insights into construction techniques and operational aspects which are, to a degree, scalable up through the envisioned larger vehicles.

As many as four contractors will be funded up to $2.5 million each to produce and demonstrate their individual designs with first flight goals of one year from contract award (to occur in FY-04). Additionally, the selected participants will be expected to produce conceptual pre-designs of 30 and 500 ton HULAs for which the data from their model demonstrations has application.

The meeting will be held in the Titan facility in Lexington Park, Md. from 9 a.m. to noon. To participate or for more information, email to huettse@navair.navy.mil or cmyersaero@aol.com.

Following the NAVAIR presentations and exchange of views, the industrial participants are invited to submit comments and suggestions or questions, not to exceed five pages, regarding the proposed competitive program. Comments should be received by June 15.