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December 18, 2003

On 29 September 2003 Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems, Akron, Ohio, was awarded agreement HQ0006-04-9-0001 for design and risk reduction phase 2 of the High Altitude Airship advanced concept technology demonstration. The objective of this Phase 2 effort is to continue design (through critical design review) and technical risk reduction efforts for a high-altitude airship system prototype that will demonstrate military utility by operating in the stratosphere as a long-endurance, quasi-geostationary platform with a contractor-supplied, government-approved payload or a government-supplied payload. The estimated total value for Phase 2 is $40,000,000 with a period of performance from October 2003 to June 2004. There is an option for a prototype, development, build and demonstration Phase 3 for an estimated total value of $50,000,000 with a period of performance from June 2004 to July 2006 and a follow-on option for an Extended User Evaluation Period Phase 4 for an estimated total value of $9,000,000 with a period of performance from August 2006 to July 2008. The Missile Defense Agency is the contracting activity.
more High Altitude Airship (HAA) GlobalSecurity.org

Lockheed Martin stratospheric airship

Proton Energy Systems Awarded Two Contracts for Regenerative Fuel Cell Development with NASA and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency

WALLINGFORD, Conn., Dec. 18, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Proton Energy Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: DESC - News) and a leader in hydrogen generation and fuel cell technology and products, announced today the award of a Small Business Innovative Research, or SBIR, Phase II contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, for development of lightweight unitized regenerative fuel cell technology for unmanned aerial vehicles. Proton also announced the award of a SBIR Phase I contract from the U.S. Army Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, for development of lightweight regenerative fuel cell technology for high altitude airships. The NASA Phase II contract goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing and operating lightweight unitized regenerative fuel cell hardware to meet the needs of aerospace applications. Proton's regenerative fuel cell design incorporates the Company's core commercial hydrogen generator technology with a fuel cell design, which is capable of generating its own hydrogen at pressure. Building upon the Phase II work, the ultimate design goal specified by NASA is to fill a need for very high energy density energy storage systems for unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAV, flight platforms. NASA intends for these UAVs to perform missions in the areas of terrestrial observation and earth science.

The goal of the Phase I contract with MDA is to achieve key milestones that demonstrate the possibility of manufacturing lightweight regenerative fuel cell hardware to meet the needs of high altitude airships. The ultimate design goal is to develop and demonstrate a hydrogen/oxygen regenerative fuel cell with lightweight packaging capable of high-pressure hydrogen and oxygen generation and multi-kilowatt power output.

The MDA contract is part of a Department of Defense initiative to develop a lighter than air, high altitude airship Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration, or ACTD, prototype. According to the Missile Defense Agency, this ACTD plans to demonstrate the engineering feasibility and potential military utility of an unmanned, un-tethered, gas filled, solar-powered airship that can fly at 70,000 ft.

Proton's completion of previous NASA SBIR Phase I and Phase II contracts, as well as its ongoing contract with the Naval Research Laboratory funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, facilitated the demonstration of zero-gravity unitized regenerative fuel cell operation as well as the ability to electrolyze water to generate hydrogen and oxygen gases at pressures exceeding 3,000 psi. Proton's HIPRESS(TM), a solid-state electrolysis cell stack design, made the efficient compression of these gases possible, a key feature in high energy aerospace density applications.

High-Altitude Airship Concept Design Nears Completion at Lockheed Martin
February 16, 2000 Defence Systems Daily, UK

Lighter-than-air vehicles operating at altitudes of 21 kilometres (70,000 feet) are nearing a reality thanks in large measure to the technical savvy of Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Akron and the convictions of Stratcom President Lt. Gen. James A. Abrahamson, USAF (retired), and other members of its stratospheric airship industrial team. All vital technologies were evaluated individually during the recently concluded concept feasibility phase, which began in October 1998, and are ready for integration into a demonstration vehicle. ...Since it is not practical to carry fuel aloft in a long-endurance buoyant vehicle, all power must be generated on station. This includes payload and propulsive power. A combination of photovoltaic (PV) and fuel cell systems likely will be used to provide the multiple kilowatts of power necessary for these functions. The PV and regenerative fuel cell technologies required by the vehicle are being developed based on work at NASA-Glenn in Cleveland and NASA-Dryden at Edwards AFB.