Airlander-10 Hybrid Airship to Appear at RIAT 2027

Founded in 2007, Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited  (HAV) is a British designer and manufacturer of hybrid airships. Subject aircraft generate lift by both aerodynamic and Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) means.

Hybrid Air Vehicles has entered into a five-year corporate partnership with the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT)—the world's largest military air show—by which the company’s Airlander-10 hybrid airship will appear at RAIT’s 2027 iteration.

The partnership and planned demonstration underscore RIAT’s aspiration to become a more sustainable event and exhibit emergent technologies conducive to the aerospace sector’s decarbonization.

A two-day event attracting upwards of 200,000 annual attendees, RIAT is arranged and officiated by the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust Enterprises (RAFCTE).

RAFCTE people and sustainability director Kate McKinley remarked: "We are delighted to have partnered with Hybrid Air Vehicles in this way. For us, sustainability represents a huge area of responsibility. As an event we are determined to make clear, measurable, and positive changes to the way we work, to do the right thing. We are aware that these changes will not happen overnight, and we want to ensure that we make real lasting improvements to the way we work. In future we hope to establish ourselves as industry leaders in this area, and partnerships like this are a huge sign of intent.”

Hybrid Air Vehicles CEO Tom Grundy set forth: "Airlander rethinks the skies and changes perceptions of what is possible with aerospace, including in sustainability. Today's partnership with the Royal International Air Tattoo further strengthens Hybrid Air Vehicles' position as a leader in aerospace decarbonization. Working with RIAT towards the 2027 edition, we look forward to exhibiting our ultra-low emissions Airlander at the world’s largest military airshow, and demonstrating first-hand its unique capabilities.”

Mr. Grundy added: “Airlander is an innovative hybrid aircraft that delivers efficient, cost-effective passenger transport, freight, and communications & surveillance services. It represents a new transportation category, between today’s fast, expensive, carbon-intensive air services and slower, infrastructure-dependent surface transport, with significant application in defense. Airlander-10, which we plan to demonstrate at RIAT 2027, is just the first of a planned family of Airlander aircraft. Airlander-50, under development already, will increase the aircraft’s payload to fifty-plus-tons, providing air connections for large or outsize loads such as shipping containers, critical infrastructure, and materiel.”

Originally developed as the HAV-304 and built for the United States Army's Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) program, the airship made its 2012 maiden flight in Lakehurst, New Jersey—site of 1937’s Hindenburg disaster.

In 2013, following the U.S. Army’s cancellation of its LEMV project, HAV reacquired the HAV-304 prototype and returned such to England’s Cardington Airfield, where the immense airship was reassembled, modified for civilian use, and redesignated Airlander-10.

Hybrid Air Vehicles’ Airlander-10 is a helium airship comprising a triple-layer composite envelope internally divided by diaphragms into a total of six main helium compartments with additional sub-divisions. The aircraft is fitted with auxiliary wing and tail surfaces and powered by a quartet of 325-horsepower Thielert Centurion V-8 diesel engines driving sets of three-bladed ducted propellers. The engines are positioned in pairs, one set situated near the airship’s rear, and the other mounted on stub-wings protruding from the lateral aspects of the aircraft’s forward fuselage. Engine thrust is utilized to both lift and maneuver the airship.

Each of the Airlander-10’s four engines is mated to a 67-horsepower generator providing electrical power for the airship’s systems.

Initially designed to operate unmanned, the Airlander-10 was adapted for piloted flight in response to customer interest in such a capability. In-flight control of the airship is via a side-stick device slaved to the vessel’s aerodynamic control surfaces by a complex, fly-by-optics fiber-optic system which produces digital signals encoded into light-pulses by one of three Flight Control System Master Units (FCSMU). The light-pulses are subsequently transmitted to 11 FCS-Satellite(s) which, in turn, connect electrically to structures and systems such as flight-control surface actuators, engine controls, and secondary power distributors.

Outputs from the aforementioned satellite units return to the flight deck via the Flight Control System, thereby providing pilots feedback vis-à-vis engine conditions and flight-control surface positions.

According to HAV, the rigors of designing the airship’s flight control regime were eased by the vessel’s natural pendulum stability.

The Airlander-10’s exceptional lifting-capability, cargo-capacity, and endurance render it eminently well-suited to applications the likes of aerial transportation of passengers, cargo, or combinations thereof;  aerial surveillance; VHF communication relay; disaster relief operations; and any number of military/tactical missions.

On 18 November 2017, following completion of its design certification testing, the original Airlander-10 was destroyed and subsequently written off after coming loose from its moorings in high winds. Production of a new, presumably identical airship is currently planned for 2025, with customer deliveries to commence in 2026.

FMI: www.hybridairvehicles.com