Did Crashed Lockheed Martin HALE-D Airship Have EEStor Systems On Board?

August 5th, 2011

If you’re not familiar with the EEStor story, I’ve done several posts on it over the years.

With regard to this HALE-D airship crash, let’s first note Lockheed Martin’s links to EEStor. This is from 2008: Lockheed Martin to Use EEstor’s Ultracapacitors for Military and Homeland Security Applications:

Lockheed Martin has signed an exclusive international rights agreement to integrate and market Electrical Energy Storage Units (EESU) from EEStor, Inc., for military and homeland security applications. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In the years since then, virtually no EEStor news has come out.

According to Global Security, “The HALE-D is powered by thin-film solar cells and rechargeable lithium ion polymer batteries.”

However, pay close attention to what Joe Myers, Harrison County Sheriff, says in this video starting at 1 minute 37 seconds:

You know it’s top secret through the military, but the batteries was a big thing.[sic] They didn’t want anybody going around that…uh aircraft once it was down. And they wanted us to provide security.

“The batteries was a big thing…”

Lockheed Martin was concerned about the public finding out about lithium ion polymer batteries, commonly used in remote controlled toys, mp3 players and portable computers?

Via: SpaceWar:

The U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin launched the first-of-its kind High Altitude Long Endurance-Demonstrator this morning, demonstrating a number of key technologies critical to development of unmanned airships.

The aircraft successfully launched at 5:47 a.m. out of the Airdock in Akron, Ohio. The airship reached an altitude of approximately 32,000 feet, however, a technical anomaly prevented the airship from attaining its target altitude of 60,000 feet and the HALE-D team decided to terminate the flight.

The aircraft descended without incident at 8:26 a.m. in southwestern Pennsylvania to a predetermined landing location. Lockheed Martin is coordinating with state and local authorities to recover the airship. We have confirmed that no injuries or damage were experienced during this landing in a heavily wooded area.

“While we didn’t reach the target altitude, first flights of new technologies like HALE-D also afford us the ability to learn and test with a mind toward future developments,” said Dan Schultz, vice president ship and aviation systems for Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Sensors business.

“We demonstrated a variety of advanced technologies, including launch and control of the airship, communications links, unique propulsion system, solar array electricity generation, remote piloting communications and control capability, in-flight operations, and controlled vehicle recovery to a remote un-populated area.”

The HALE-D is an unmanned solar-powered lighter-than-air vehicle designed to hover 12 miles above the earth’s surface for extended periods of time. The airship is designed to demonstrate advanced new technologies and capabilities for keeping American soldiers safer through improved communications.

Lockheed Martin is in the process of recovering the airship and will conduct a full evaluation.

10 Responses to “Did Crashed Lockheed Martin HALE-D Airship Have EEStor Systems On Board?”

  1. Miraculix says:

    Development continues apace on what we’ll now have to refer to as “EEye in the Sky” technology.

    EEye being “brandspeak” for Electric Eye, of course. But new and improved, with state-of-the-art super-secret battery packs.

    Why use a new technology for some amorphous greater good when you can use it to monitor the proles 24/7 from on high instead?

    Is olive drab the “new” green?

  2. cgroove69 says:

    top secret aircraft was supposed to “hover over the tri-state area for 10 days”. nice that i live in the tri state CCTV area, and now they’re surveiling us from high altitudes. Wonderful. question: how much does one think i would need to put away to move to a farm on a far away land? and this is a serious questions i have been considering for awhile, especially since reading cryptogon and seeing how you, kevin, have made the switch to “off grid” sorta living. I consider myself a potential farmer who grows my own vegetables on a small patch of land in my yard that does fairly well. any ideas? books? i’ve seen some here but think i need to get more serious with the chaos that is consuming this country. thanks for any ideas…

  3. Kevin says:

    @cgroove69

    Unless that far away land in on another planet, I don’t think there’s any way out of “here.”

    There are nicer parts of the Death Star than others, but it’s still the Death Star.

  4. alvinroast says:

    @Kevin

    Thanks. I think more people need to hear that. We considered New Zealand a few years ago and I really can’t say whether we would have been better off.

    Staying with the Death Star theme there is something to be said for obscurity in the garbage compactor (provided you can stop the compacting), but others might prefer the shiny electric screens on the upper decks until they go out with a bang.

    You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.

  5. cgroove69 says:

    figured that. very true, very true… a level of obscurity would be nice.

  6. lagavulin says:

    cgroove69,

    Something to consider is that moving to another location isn’t like just moving across town. It takes time to get to know the area before you commit yourself to a house and land. This is a serious error a lot of the early bloggers on these issues made in trying to find a (relatively) safer-haven for riding out the coming years of crisis (Mike Ruppert comes to mind, but others as well). You can’t just show up in a new place, plant your garden and smile. Every place has its culture, and that culture takes time to understand – but it’s critical to do so! My advice is to begin exploring where you think will be a safe(er) haven, then get a rental unit there, start getting to know the lay of the land, look for a job, network with the community….

    This process can take years. For myself, we left the city 5 years ago (after another 4 or 5 years of research about why, what & where, but that’s another story). 2 1/2 years after arriving we bought land. Another 2 years to build the type of house I’d spent years researching. You get the point. The time to start all this was several years ago. It may well be too late now…I don’t know. But if you’re truly committed to getting yourself aligned with the needs of the future, don’t be rash, think it through, digest your options, take it in measured steps. But start doing that right now!

    On one hand, when the sky is falling, it’s too late to hide – everyone is doing the same. But on the other, none of us know what the future really holds, so it’s crucial not to make decisions that we wouldn’t want to live with if anyway, even if nothing turns out at all the way we think it will. Always act out of interest & desire, never out of fear! Even during the Apocalypse.

  7. Eileen says:

    @cgroove69
    Sounds like you live near me. One mile north of I-80.
    This place sucks in many ways. I’ve got an Air Force base in Ohio that has used a feature in my backyard as a landmark for where to turn their freaking freight train of an airplane in their daily manuveurs. I think I am going to call and complain about it. See what happens. HAH.
    Yep, I agree with Kevin about some places on this planet being better than others. But every one of us signed up for our “tour of duty” on this planet (at least I think so) and so Heaven or Hell is all inside of you.
    My mantra these days is to make peace with myself. As I do so, my outer circumstances are rather superfulous. Does the sound of that bomber flying overhead still bother me, ABSOLUTELY. But I don’t think I’ve felt as happy as I do now for a long time. Whoopee. We’re all going to die.

  8. Miraculix says:

    @ CGroove

    I could save a lot of time & space by simply typing: What Lagavulin said!

    However, there’s more worth saying, so there you go. If you can find yourself a lovely foreign national who isn’t drinking too much of the Kool-Aid AND who’s ready (and willing) to bolt for home, this can compress the timeline Lagavulin offers substantially. Right Kev…? =)

    In the interest of full disclosure, my wife is a German national and I’m a full-time expat, so I speak from experience.

    That said, there’s still a long road potholed with bureaucratic frustrations and logistical expenses aplenty between you and your personal permaculture hideout wherever “over there” turns out to be.

    So get started on your planning yesterday, or perhaps the day before.

    @ Eileen

    “..I’ve got an Air Force base in Ohio that has used a feature in my backyard as a landmark for where to turn their freaking freight train of an airplane in their daily manuveurs. I think I am going to call and complain about it. See what happens…”

    Having spent some quality time in and around military flight operations in a previous life, I can confidently state that if you complain in a real way your comments WILL be noted.

    Your location will be marked on the OPS map in the appropriate squadron meeting room, usually with a comment describing your complaint or what they should do in the area to try to avoid any further problems.

    They will NOT shift standard operational patterns for you though, period.

    The best advice I can offer is to speak with everyone you can in your area affected by these flight ops, collect signatures and statements, then pen a formal letter written in your best lawyer/bureaucrat-ese to the base commander in question, requesting that he speak with the squadron CO/XO about the situation.

    If you are persistent and polite, you MAY see some improvement in the situation, but odds are you’re just going to have to live with the “sounds of freedom” over your head and house, as airwing types are so fond of referring to operational jet noise over civilian airspace.

  9. Miraculix says:

    Forgot to mention, for what it’s worth, that the big silo here on our property is a nav point for BOTH the German Tornados during their weekly south/north training flyovers AND Americans pilots flying in and out of the remaining airbase in the region.

    On a humorous sidenote, I often test the historical awareness of individuals visiting us (especially the Americans) with the following logic when the conversation turns politic:

    “What makes you think the US will pull out of ANY country anytime soon, when World War Two was formally over in 1945 and yet the Americans still occupy Germany…?”

    99% of the people I speak with — including the Germans — aren’t even aware that the US military operates their very own pipeline system for fuel supply outside the regular commercial networks.

    Meanwhile, the whole point of “EEye in the Sky” is to render the ENTIRE planet strategically visible, not just the NATO countries. They’ll go first, of course.

    And then there’s the subject of geo-engineering with aerosol-based (read: weaponized) compounds, but I’m already well off course here… =)

  10. cgroove69 says:

    Excellent advice all. I do appreciate it. Yeh, I probably should’ve begun the move years ago, but was not as “awake” so to say as I feel I am now.

    Thanks again all.

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