The Airlander And It's European Union Grant

The Airlander on it's maiden flight in America.

Being a bit of an "Avgeek" I often read up on the latest aviation news, especially if its research and development happening in the UK. One company that captured my interest recently was a company called Hybrid Air Vehicles. Based in Bedford, "HAV" are currently building a large (as in, it's currently the largest flightworthy aircraft in the world kind of large) concept airship called Airlander 10 which they hope will provide cargo transport in the near future. Incidentally, the hanger it's being developed in was the original hanger used by the Royal Airship Works from 1919 until 1930, when the doomed R101 project being built there crashed horrifically in France killing forty-eight of the fifty-four crew and passengers on-board, effectively ending all further work on airships in the UK. Until now it seems.

The Airlander is unlikely to suffer a similar fate to the airships of yesteryear however as both materials and engineering has come some way in the ninety-odd years! Firstly, something which should seem obvious is that it's not kept aloft by hydrogen. Inside it's aerodynamic body are multiple compartments filled with helium, with the the wing-like shape of the vessel creating around 40% of the lift whilst in a forward motion. The craft will be powered by four, four litre V8 diesel engines, two at the rear and two on either side at the front which have directional thrust which enable it to hover like a helicopter. Although slow by today's airliner standards, the four engines are expected to propel it up to a punchy 80 knots, which might not sound much but considering it's designed to carry ten tons of cargo (hence the name Airlander 10), that is quite an feat in lighter than air (or practically lighter than air) travel. The skin of the Airlander is not the fabric or a thin tin-foil like substance you would expect of an airship either, but is instead a composite made up of kevlar, mylar and vectran, all known for their lightweight but incredibly strong properties.

Whilst the prospect of cargo plodding along at 80 knots may seem strange when we have huge great cargo planes that can travel at over four times that speed, it's role as cargo hauler would come into it's own in areas of the globe where there isn't adequate infrastructure. For instance, it would likely be a much safer option than the 'ice trucker' routes, or provide a much quicker and accessible form of transport for needed aid supplies for remote locations. There will no doubt be some military function these could play too, in providing supplies or light vehicles etc, as well as surveillance or communications which this craft was originally intended for! They would pose somewhat of a vulnerable target though, regardless of it's low radar profile and low heat-signature.

These factoids are however somewhat baseless seeing as the craft has yet to undergo further flight testing. The project started it's life as a joint project between Northrop Grumman and Hybrid Air Vehicles for the US military, but after a single flight test in 2012 it was mothballed. Hybrid Air Vehicles brought the craft back off of the US Government for the small figure of $293,000, and after transporting it to the UK from New Jersey, have continued it's development. The funding for it's continued development has come from a £3.5 million grant from the UK Government, £2 million in crowdfunding and a further £2 million from a European Union grant. Noticing that a significant amount of the money for this had come from the EU, I wondered whether or not an exit from the European Union would affect this companies operation.

Whilst it wouldn't personally change my mind on the European Union vote later this month, it would be an unfortunate consequence if projects like this got derailed by a Brexit vote.

So I emailed them, writing:

I'm a independent blogger writing on politics and technology and I noticed that this project is in part funded by European Union grant money.

I'd like to ask, if next week the UK decides to leave the European Union, do you have any idea what might happen to your funding? Has the UK Government implied that they will step in to safeguard the project at all?

As a side note, I think it would be a shame if this should fall through. Its always good to see some new innovation in the UK, particularly as historically the UK Government has always been somewhat slow to act when it comes to developing tech over the last 50 years or so. Particularly in the aviation/space sector!

Thanks for your time in any case, and I do wish this the very best of luck. I hope to see it at airshows soon!

Hats of to Hybrid Air Vehicles, as they got back to me within a few short hours with a really descent answer which I feel might please some prospective leave voters.

Thanks for your interest.  First of all, my understanding is that nothing happens immediately if the public has exercised its voice to ask the Government to leave the EU.  It will take a while for the process of this exit to be decided and for all the EU members to decide how it is best done from their side too.  We don't simply leave the day after the vote is announced, if it is to leave.

In terms of any contractual obligations we have (in this case our EU Horizon 2020 grant), these remain contractual obligations irrespective to whether we're in the EU or not.  Without looking through the legal agreement regarding this grant, I doubt there is a sort of "force majeure" clause about potential exit of any member state, and I also cannot see the EU revoking a huge amount of EU grants or agreements that are predicated on the UK being part of the EU.  They are typically of limited duration (a few years) and it is likely to take this time for the UK to unravel itself fully from the EU, so I think there won't be an impact immediately.  The impact would be felt longer term amongst SME's, large business and academic communities with restrictions on grant funding and collaborative projects that the EU currently supports.

Thanks for your interest in us.

As you can see, whilst I don't personally know this person's convictions when it comes to the European Union referendum, it is clear that they aren't overly concerned about the impact that it might have on their business, despite having running contractual agreements with them! Either way, to many firms such as this, it looks as though an Brexit would have little impact.

Into the future it is expected that demand for these next-generation airships will grow, and as such Hybrid Air Vehicles are already contemplating building the Airlander 50, which as the name suggests is similar to the 10, except it'll be much, much larger and capable of hauling up to 50 tons of cargo. It has to be said that we should all wish this company the best of luck, and hopefully this technology will usher in a renaissance of air-cruises, the likes of which the Hindenburg etc promised, yet could never deliver.