Large UAV in Japan

The Japanese government's “Millennium program” has been promoted by the JAXA (former NAL) and NICT (former TAO), in order to develop an airship to operate in the Stratosphere.

Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) has fabricated the airship, now what may be the largest Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV); a 10,500 cubic meter airship, approximately 68 meters long and 18 meters width. Airship Management Services, Inc. (AMS) supplied technical support, including several hardware components.

This particular airship is similar in size to the Skyship 600 and Sentinel 1000 airships. The big design difference is that this ship is unmanned and has capable of autonomous flight.

The airship flight tests will initiate in summer 2004 at the Taiki-cho of Hokkaido, Japan under JAXA/NICT cooperation. It will fly up to an altitude of 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) for the mission tests of transmission/broadcasting and the Earth observation. The goal for the stratospheric airship is to develop larger airships to fly to higher altitudes and, eventually, to the Stratosphere at 70,000 feet (20 kilometers). The airships will make use of the latest solar cells, fuel cells and electric propulsion so as to extend flight duration and station-keeping.