Stratospheric airship

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A stratospheric airship is an airship designed to fly at very high altitudes (30,000 - 70,000 ft or 10 - 20 km). Most designs are (ROA/UAV) remote operated aircraft/unmanned aerial vehicles. To date none of these designs have received approval from the FAA to fly in U.S. airspace.

[edit] Stratospheric airship projects

Lockheed Martin has been contracted by the United States Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency to construct a high-altitude airship (HAA) to enhance its Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS).

Japan and South Korea are also planning to deploy HAA's. South Korea has been conducting flight tests for several years with a vehicle from Worldwide Aeros.

On December 4, 2005 a team led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), sponsored by the Army Space and Missile Defense Command (ASMDC) successfully demonstrated powered flight of the HiSentinel stratospheric airship at an altitude of 74,000 feet (22.6 km).

There are at least 5 other stratospheric airship efforts being floated in other countries.