A GIGANTIC airship,the biggest the world has ever seen,could be constructed on land next to the Cardington hangars.

Senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials were reported this week to be looking at the 1,000ft craft's potential as a carrier of troops and equipment to the world's troublespots.

Discussions have reached a stage where a possible start date of 2010 has even been suggested for the cargo lifter to enter service with the RAF, if it were to be commissioned and MoD funded.

Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), the designer, calculates that the monster SkyCat-1000 could carry up to a dozen tanks or several hundred troops to a combat area at 100mph.The largest transport aircraft can currently carry only one tank.

The 250ft high SkyCat-1000 would also propel 'lighter than air' vehicles into a new era because it is an airship cum hovercraft. It could land on water or swampland – using retractable hovercraft cushions.

But while the national media focus was on the airship's military potential, spokesman Joanna Amis told the Times & Citizen that it could also carry huge amounts of food and relief equipment to disaster areas inaccessible to large aircraft.

World Food Aid and similar organisations have been interested in the project since it was announced four years ago, she said.

The SkyCat-1000 would be too big to be built in ATG's Cardington hangar. The plan is to build the components inside and then to assemble the airship outside. It could cost over £15 million.

SkyCat is the largest in an ATG series of proposed new generation cargo lifter airships – powered by new diesel engines and featuring some aeroplane aerodynamics – which have been attracting the attention of UK and US military experts.

The series starts with the SkyCat-20, which could carry a 20-ton payload but would also be suitable for surveillance activities from heights up to 18,000ft.

Ms Amis said: "At the moment helicopters can be used for surveillance but they have to come down in no time at all. The SkyCat can go up and stay there for a number of days."

ATG has been working on Skycat design for six years and is close to completing its second prototype, SkyKitten-2, a 40 ft unmanned remote control airship that demonstrates some of the key technologies used in ATG's lighter-than-air vehicles.

It will also feature the hover cushions common to the series.
Ms Amis added: "The SkyCat will have a unique ability to put down on land, water and swamp – it will not be limited by infrastructure. This means it could be used for humanitarian purposes because it can reach remote parts and land safely."