Starting 2004, a new generation of dirigibles will roam the skies again. The project promoted by British company Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) will enable Sky Cat dirigibles for use in airfreight, cheaper than planes and faster than boats. The only Eastern European partner in this project is IAR Ghimbav.
A team of 26 engineers from the Brasov-based company worked on designing the cargo module of the dirigible as stipulated in the $750,000 contract concluded between IAR Ghimbav and ATG in July, 2000.
The cargo compartment will be 50 metres long, 7.5 metres wide and 5 metres tall, structured on two levels. IAR has to complete a first 10-metre section by March, 2002. This month, the Romanian engineers are due to brief the English partners on the progress of their work.
IAR's marketing manager, atefan Paunescu, is optimistic about the success of the project. "Our co-operation will have three stages: research and design, manufacturing preparation and actual manufacturing of a cargo compartment section, to be shipped and assembled in England.
The research was completed in late April. The English specialist will analyse it and decide whether to go on with the production or not. So far, our British partners are happy with our work. The final decision is up to the progress made by the other partners, as well." The project includes other nine companies from the United States and England.
Sky Cat 200 will have a 200-tonne capacity. A spin-off, the 1,000-tonne Sky Cat 1000, scheduled after its launch in 2004, will follow. Sky Cat 200 will be 47 metres tall (the size of a fifteen story building), 185 metres long and 77 metres wide. Its size will require Sky Cat to be launched from an outdoor launching pad, as there is no hangar big enough to shelter such a giant anywhere in the world.
Apart from Sky Cat, the specialists at Advanced Technologies Group are also running a longer-term project, called "Strat Sat."
The Strat Sat dirigibles will be made of special alloys and will fly 13,000-14,000 metres high in the air. They will be geared with telecommunications equipment such as the ones on board the current communications satellites, so that they will replace those satellites some time in the future. Therefore, positioning equipment in the stratosphere will become much cheaper.
The 6,000 HP Pratt & Whitney engines will develop a 200km/hour speed. Sky Cat will fly 300 metres high, with 40 hours and 6,000 km in flight autonomy. The size of the airship is very impressive, that is nearly half a million cubic metres.
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