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Headlines
U.S. Army to Get Helium Airships- 6/22/2010The U.S. Army signed a half-billion dollar deal for the development of three hybrid helium airship weapons systems. Northrop Grumman was awarded $517 million to build the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicles (LEMV), which will be more than 300 ft. long and will be capable of hovering at an altitude of 20,000 ft. for three weeks at a time. Under the agreement, awarded by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, Northrop Grumman will design, develop and test the LEMV within an 18-month time period, and then transport the asset to the Middle East for military assessment. The airships will be deployed to aid troops in Afghanistan by providing persistent surveillance. “Our offering supports the Army's Joint Military Utility Assessment that this disruptive innovation must meet the Army's objective of a persistent unblinking stare while providing increased operational utility to battlefield commanders,” says Alan Metzger, Northrop Grumman LEMV program manager. “Part of our innovative offering includes open architecture design in the payload bay to allow sensor changes by service personnel in the field.” The unmanned airship will provide plug-and play capabilities to integrate readily with the Army’s existing ground station command centers and ground troops in forward operating bases. “It is critical that our soldiers are equipped with more enabling integrated ISR capability to tackle today's and tomorrow's conflicts,” says Metzger. 
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