News & Events

Airship stays in Akron
Project shifts government departments, but jobs, work stay with Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin's High-Altitude Airship has yet to fly. But it just moved. The Akron-based airship program has been transferred from the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency to the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command, according to the company and public officials.

The change keeps the program in development and will keep jobs in Akron, according to Lockheed Martin, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Niles, and Summit County Executive Russ Pry.

Lockheed Martin anticipates building an airship prototype at the Akron Airdock, with an initial demonstration flight possible in 2009. The defense contractor several years ago was awarded a $149.2 million federal contract to design and build the airship, but the program has been delayed because of shifts in priorities and related funding uncertainties.

Lockheed Martin is working with the Army on some of the program details, including additional funding and program schedule, Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Jen Allen said. If everything falls into place, Lockheed Martin could have a "subscale flight demonstrator" as early as the summer of 2009, Allen said.

As part of the latest shift, the Army program based in Huntsville, Ala. will continue to develop and demonstrate the airship program for use in global missile defense. The airship program's engineering and management will stay in Akron, the company said. "Lockheed Martin is on contract to build an airship prototype based on the technologies developed earlier in the program," Allen said.

The unmanned airship will be designed to float as high as 60,000 feet for as long as six months in one spot and be used for military reconnaissance and communications. The airship is intended to be a low-cost alternative to satellites.

Work is continuing on the program at Lockheed Martin's Akron facilities. The program could add 100 jobs at the Akron site, where Lockheed Martin employs about 650.

Pre-production runs of fabrics that would be used to make the airship show lower weight, higher strength and longer lifetimes than the contract requires, according to Ron Browning, Lockheed Martin's business development director who is responsible for the project. In addition, pre-production solar cells and batteries also meet or exceed requirements, he said.

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