"Israel Airship to keep eye on Mideast"

"Paul F Austin" wrote in message
. ..

"Jarg" wrote

"Mike" wrote
Airship to keep eye on Mideast
Israel has begun development of a 200-yard-long airship that would
remain stationed at almost 70,000 feet above Earth for years and
permit tracking of aircraft and missile firings as far as 600 miles
away, a distance covering most of the Arab world.
at http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040...4723-7239r.htm

Seems like a great idea - a cheap AWACS/JSTAR! And particularly well
suited
for a small geographical area like Israel.

High altitude airships are being considered for both civil and military
applications. One limitation they have is in electrical generating
capacity
over the long mission times planned. It's not insuperable, especially with
passive sensors but it is a problem.

What about solar cells on the envelope? Especially at altitude, where
sunlight would be stronger.

The other obvious limitation is the
ease with which angry strangers could punch holes in them.

True, but winds would be more of a concern to me, though that seems a
problem in transiting from ground to high altitude, going through the
atmospheric layers. Getting to 70,000 ft. is necessary to engage them, and
even back over the Mediterranean Sea an airship at that altitude can see a
long way, depending on how good the sensors are. (And, of course, those
monitoring and coordinating the data.) Not to mention that even a large gas
bag could be somewhat stealthy, if the radar waves pass right through.....

DEP