First aerostatonosets

10
First aerostatonosets


The United States Navy has adapted reconnaissance balloons (aerostats) to work from the stern deck of high-speed transport ships (HAV). This increases the ability of ships to detect small smuggling boats of drugs from 8 to 80 kilometers and provides the ability to track them in any weather, day and night. This event is a great achievement for naval reformers who advocate the return of unbound airships. After more than half a century of effort, the airships filled with helium vehicles, lighter than air, either attached or not, began to be of use on the battlefield again. The last time airships were widely used during World War II, then hundreds of airships patrolled coastal waters in search of enemy ships (mainly German submarines), and thousands of tethered airships were an obstacle to low-altitude bombing. The United States continued to use airships for sea patrols until the beginning of the 1960s, and airship supporters have so far been trying to bring the airships back into service again. Now, combat commanders who have managed to use them complain about the insufficient number of attached airships. The key difference here is the cable that allows the "airships" to stay in the air for weeks, because they do not run out of fuel, and the "crew" is on the ground. The same with balloons at sea, where sudden changes in the weather led to the death of many airships, and often no one survived.



The high-speed ship converted into an Aerostat carrier is the USS Swift (HSV 2) catamaran. This ship is 103 meters long and has a displacement of 1900 tons. It is capable of carrying up to 800 tons of cargo and has aircraft-type seats for 300 paratroopers, although it can accommodate up to 600 paratroopers if necessary. The transported cargo may include vehicles weighing up to 70 tons each, including Tanks M-1. Vehicles are loaded and unloaded on their own. Speed ​​and range depends on the volume of cargo carried. The catamaran also loses speed with high excitement. This is not a ship that can be actively used in the North Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean. However, in the Caribbean or off the west coast of Central America, it can operate for a long period of time and (with the exception of bad weather) provide round-the-clock balloon operation.



The US Army has used more than a hundred balloons in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. In 2010, the army initially deployed a lightweight AN / ZPY-1 Starlite radar for the balloon originally developed for use with camcorders. The radio location station Starlite weighs 29.5 kg occupies a volume of 34 cubic centimeters, consumes 750 W and costs about $ 2.3 million. Starlite was originally developed for use on the one-and-a-half MQ-1C MQ-1C Sky Warrior UAV. Starlite provides in any weather high-quality black and white radar images of what is happening. The army has developed software that allows transmitting a signal from Starlite to video terminals, and automatically superimposing it on electronic versions of standard maps. Starlite is used in combination with video cameras and heat sensors (infrared or thermal), which allows you to monitor what is happening on the water 80 kilometers from a ship equipped with a balloon, regardless of the weather.



Army balloons are usually located at an altitude of about 320 meters, tied with a cable providing energy and communication with the radar and day / night video cameras. The Navy uses the 640-meter cable because a balloon has a tendency to "trail in the tail" of a slow-moving ship. During ground operations, balloons may be continuously in the air for 30 days, however, when fired by their enemy, some of them must be lowered every few days to patch.



The high-speed ship USS Swift has a helipad and space for two UH-60 and CH-46 helicopters, but when using a balloon, a balloon takes this place. The main crew of Swift is only 20 people, but there are rooms for accommodating a crew of 51-man, and the galley is able to feed up to 150 people. Additional personnel will be placed on board for around-the-clock use of aerostat sensors.



An important aspect of HAV ships is their speed. Swift is able to maintain speed in 83 kilometers per hour for four hours during sea crossings. The ship is able to travel 63 km or 2000 kilometers at 7200 kilometers per hour at speeds in 36 kilometers per hour without the need to replenish the fuel. The HSV is equipped with four jet propellers, making it extremely manoeuvrable. The swift will be used mainly as a support ship in a mine war, but the extra HSV will serve as a high-speed vehicle. As a weapon, it can be equipped with an 25-mm automatic cannon, a remote-controlled machine gun caliber 12.7-mm or 40-mm grenade launcher.



Swift can also carry high-speed inflatable boats for carrying out inspections on suspicious ships. However, the main advantage of Swift equipped with an aerostat is the ability to detect the boats of drug smugglers and to warn other naval vessels and ships of the coast guard about this.
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  1. +4
    14 May 2013 07: 51
    The Americans are actively using balloons now to guard their bases in Afghanistan. The equipment installed on them allows you to pinpoint a person from 12 kilometers, and to identify him with 4. the weight of the equipment is about 70 kg. they hang a balloon on a cable at an altitude of about 600 meters. Observation is also carried out at night. So a pretty practical thing for security needs. Such things would also not hurt us to guard troop dispositions in the Caucasus and to observe.
    1. 0
      14 May 2013 11: 04
      Quote: cobalt
      Such things would also not hurt us to guard troop dispositions in the Caucasus and to observe.

      I agree with you all 100.
      Herrr Professor Malos "wisely" in translation or is it written in the original, but the High Speed ​​Transport Ship (HAV) somehow dubiously counts with "detecting small boats of smugglers." And "control in the head":The USS Swift (HSV 2) catamaran is a high-speed ship converted into the "Aerostat carrier". This ship is 103 meters long and has a displacement of 1900 tons. It is capable of carrying up to 800 tons of cargo and has aircraft-type seats for 300 paratroopers, although it can accommodate up to 600 paratroopers if necessary. The transported cargo may include vehicles weighing up to 70 tons each, including M-1 tanks.
      Smugglers are clearly not aisles.
      The purpose and capabilities of the vehicles are clearly intended for amphibious "terrorist" operations in NON-FRIENDLY territories.

      Merci Doc. hi

      It remains to deal with the "carrots" and everything will become "coffee-chocolate".
      1. +1
        14 May 2013 12: 03
        They wrote to you: "This is not a ship that can be actively used in the North Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean. However, in the Caribbean Sea or off the west coast of Central America, it can operate for a long period of time and (with the exception of bad weather) provide a XNUMX-hour balloon operation." And who else can they catch there if not illegal immigrants and smugglers ??
        1. +1
          14 May 2013 12: 23
          Quote: professor
          And who else can they catch there if not illegal immigrants and smugglers

          A-ha-ha-ha, 300-600 paratroopers with "Abrams" catch motor boats with "illegals" carrying "coke" in the coastal strip of Maracaibo or Caracas.
          good wink
          1. +1
            14 May 2013 14: 45
            You read, read. The platform is capable of transporting all of the above, however, this does not mean that Swift will carry all this.
  2. +1
    14 May 2013 08: 58
    history develops in a spiral

    By the beginning of the 1945 year, the American fleet had a patrol and training aircraft consisting of fifteen 141 squadrons

    Separate aerostat detachments followed along with units of the Marine Corps and covered landing landings on the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The 320th US Army Barrage Balloon Battalion took part in the Allied Landing in Normandy on 6 on June 1944.
  3. Bashkaus
    +2
    14 May 2013 09: 46
    And since childhood I have been fascinated by the works and ideas of K.E. Tsiolkovsky and sincerely believe that in spite of the century of turbojet aircraft and spacewalks, the future of airspace is behind the idea of ​​Tsiolkovsky’s metal airship, multiplied by nanotechnology and 21st century capabilities.
    An airship with the thinnest metal shell does not bear the loss of the gas being filled, therefore it is economical, and if we take into account that the lifting force of gas-filled vessels in the air is similar to the action of the Archimedes law in water, then it is possible to build flying structures of gigantic sizes capable of transporting the same goods from significantly more speed. These are passenger ships, unlike aircraft capable of carrying thousands of passengers and, unlike a train, doing this several times faster.
    In a word, I believe in the ideas of Tsiolkovsky!
  4. avt
    0
    14 May 2013 10: 02
    Well, only there are not enough photos from the cruiser of the Vladivostok detachment, there exactly after the Russian-Japanese one, balloons were raised from ships, as a keepsake - from Russia, well, even on the Black Sea before the First Imperialist one. I even met the photos taken from the balloon of the Sevastopol harbor.
  5. The comment was deleted.
  6. 0
    14 May 2013 19: 14
    Quote from the article:

    "It is capable of carrying up to 800 tons of cargo and has aircraft-type seats for 300 paratroopers."


    HSV-2 Swift
    The ship was built by Incat, an Australian shipbuilding company in Hobart, Tasmania, and leased to the US Navy through a joint venture, Bollinger / Incat, in Lockport, Louisiana. This is the second catamaran leased by the US Navy to test new technologies and concepts related to the Seapower 21 plan for the head of naval operations
  7. 0
    14 May 2013 19: 23
    .............








  8. 0
    14 May 2013 19: 27
    ...........





  9. +2
    14 May 2013 19: 50
    Here is his "Bruder" - "KatExpress 1" (or rather, there are two of them):


    Salon (starboard) "KatExpress 1":



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