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SA-60 Airship Flies At 10,000 Feet, Fulfills Flight Criteria
West Palm Beach FL (SPX) Jul 02, 2004 Proxity Digital Networks, Inc. and Techsphere Systems International, Inc., announce through Cyber Aerospace Corp., an operating subsidiary of Proxity's On Alert Systems, that the SA-60 low altitude surveillance airship has flown at 10,000 feet altitude satisfying all flight criteria required under existing contracts. The 10,000 ft. flight took place as Cyber Aerospace conducted contractor demo flights for the U.S. Navy at Captain Walter Francis Duke Regional Airport in Hollywood, St. Mary's County MD. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) recently contracted with Cyber Aerospace and has been flight-testing the SA-60 spherical airship to evaluate its potential to satisfy future military and defense requirements. The SA-60 is manufactured by Techsphere Systems International. Cyber Aerospace holds the exclusive global government marketing rights to the SA-60 and other Techsphere advanced spherical airship designs. In addition, Sierra Nevada Corporation has entered an exclusive partnership agreement to provide technology, payload, and sensor integration for government and commercial end users. The partnering companies accomplished the goals of the flight tests, climbing to 10,000 feet altitude in a flight sortie that lasted over three hours. According to a recent published report, NAVAIRs purpose in conducting the demonstrations was to determine the characteristics of the SA-60 spherical airship....what it's really good at, find out what it can't do, quantify that, and then make that available to the Navy for consideration on future missions. The main thing NAVAIR is interested in is economical, persistent surveillance...an airship provides that better than any other vehicle. Airships can operate 25-30 percent cheaper than comparable rotary wing or fixed wing aircraft. The SA-60 can be moved by truck and assembled in as little as 24 hours by a small contingent. The SA-60 airship currently requires an onboard pilot, but the companies are moving forward with plans to prepare an unmanned version, allowing for much longer flights. A larger operational version is expected to have a diameter of 76 feet, be able to attain and maintain a 16,000 foot altitude, and fly for up to two-days. Another version would have a diameter of 200-feet and would be capable of wide-area surveillance and/or telecommunications relay missions flying at altitudes up to 68,000 feet. This version could be constructed and test flown within 12 months. Outfitted with solar panels and regenerative fuel cell technology, the 200-foot airship could stay aloft for months. Related Links Proxity Digital Networks On Alert Systems Cyber Aerospace Techsphere Systems Sierra Nevada SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
NTMI Supports Border Patrol UAV's To Monitor Nation's Southern Border
Reston VA (SPX) Jul 01, 2004New Technology Management, Inc. (NTMI) today hailed the first sustained civilian use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to curb illegal activities along Arizona's southern border. The UAV flights will be controlled and monitored by U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Border Patrol and are scheduled through the summer of 2004. |
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