Airship maker Aeros is still in a holding pattern, waiting to know for sure whether its prototype Aeroscraft vehicle is repairable after a hangar collapsed on it earlier this month. “The Aeroscraft has sustained substantial damage to the tail end of the aircraft; however we won’t be able to send in our team for further evaluation until the hangar area is deemed safe for entry,” said John Kiehle, spokesman for the company, which is based in Montebello, Calif., east of Los Angeles. The hangar is still off-limits and it will likely take “at least several months” before Aeros will have access, Kiehle told the Daily Report on Oct. 28. On Oct. 7, the roof of the World War II-era hangar in Tustin, Calif., housing the Aeroscraft partially collapsed, damaging the 230-foot-long air vehicle. “Aeros feels very fortunate no one was injured and that this incident happened after we initiated out-of-hangar flight testing under the FAA-issued experimental certificate, following nearly a year of systems testing,” said Kiehle. Aeros is developing Aeroscraft under Pentagon sponsorship. It is designed to haul massive amounts of cargo.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.