An airship that could counter cross-border terror
Friday, 18 July 2003, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: An American company is seeking India's cooperation in building the prototype of an airship that can combat cross-border terrorism and change the face of telecommunications and healthcare in the country. StratCom, a firm headed by Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, the first director of the U.S. "Star Wars" programme, is seeking India's partnership in the stratospheric airship project for its expertise in vehicle design, payloads and control systems. "India can demonstrate its leadership by partnering this programme. It has the right mixture of talent and the challenges it has faced," Abrahamson told a news conference here Thursday. Asked if such an airship could help monitor the movement of people across borders like the one between India and Pakistan, he said: "It can be used for border patrol for homeland defence." Abrahamson said he was in India to speak to scientists "who can manage these partnerships". "I am very optimistic. India is a potential market but it has organisations like the Indian Space Research Organisation or the Defence Research and Development Organisation with specialisation in several payload areas," he noted. Stratospheric airships are unmanned, solar-powered aircraft designed to fly at altitudes of up to 20 km or over 65,000 feet. The airships, which are 600 feet in length and 180 feet in diameter, can carry payloads ranging from 900 kg to 5,440 kg. Airships can be positioned over a single point on the earth's surface and have defence and civil applications. "They will offer reliable transmission and help in disaster management, mobile data communication in remote and rural areas as well as telemedicine or healthcare," Abrahamson said. A fleet of four to six airships can provide coverage of key regions of India and strategic areas in South Asia. "We can get the cost well below $20 million. And once we clear the learning curve, the cost could come down to $15 million," Abrahamson said. Civil applications could cover wireless communication for mobile phone users, fixed local loop wireless communications to fixed homes or businesses and interactive television and interactive radio broadcasts. Military payloads could include weapons, very high resolution multi-spectral cameras for observing ground, airborne or space targets, radars for ground imaging or aeronautical or space target tracking, and space-to-satellite relay for long haul communications. The airships could have ballistic missile defence sensors or interceptor platforms as well as remote air traffic control systems that combined radar and communication platforms. The programme funded by the U.S. defence department is expected to produce its first prototype by end 2005 or early 2006. Ramchand, an associate with the think-tank National Institute of Advanced Studies, said: "Lots of sensors could be put (on the airship) to monitor cross-border movement or for telemedicine. The programme is complementary and supplementary to what India is doing. The U.S. will also benefit, more than India." Ramchand was the former director of the Centre for AirBorne Systems.
Source: IANS
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