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 Military eyeing Mantua aircraft
Marly
Kosinski
By Marly
Kosinski
Record-Courier business
editor
MANTUA - A local business may be
on the fast track to having its patented
aircraft fly the friendly skies.
Ohio
Airships, Inc. was founded in 1999 by Robert
Rist and Brian Martin after the pair came up
with an idea for a new “hybrid” aircraft that is
part airplane and part airship. The result is
the Dynalifter, an aircraft that features a
cable stay bridge construction interior that
allows for concentrated loading, while
decreasing structural weight.
Martin and
Rist came up with a prototype and then did a
patent search to make sure that no one else had
patented their idea. They received a U.S. patent
in 2001, commissioned an engineered design study
in 2002 and sent their idea for a computational
fluid dynamics analysis in 2003.
Although the process has been moving
along the last several years, Martin said he and
Rist have met resistance along the
way.
“We have had objections to this
project at every stage,” Martin said. “Experts
in engineering and aerodynamics have said from
day one that we would never get to the next
stage of development. Yet here we
are.”
Currently, Ohio Airships has
received a quote to build the 700-foot model of
the Dynalifter. That quote was the result of the
designed engineer study performed by Dr. Daniel
P. Raymer, director of advanced design for
Lockheed-Martin in California.
“We gave
him the design sketches, our requirements and
our patented design and his study gave our
project the green light to proceed,” Rist said.
Rist and Martin see three uses for their
idea. The first is a Dynalifter patroller that a
local corporation would purchase for advertising
and law enforcement could use for searches and
patroling air space.
The second use is a
Dynalifter Freighter that could transport
parcels and freight overseas more efficiently
and at a lower cost.
He said because Ohio
Airships would be able to ship goods more
cheaply, manufacturers would be more likely to
locate in Ohio - an added benefit of the
technology.
The third use is for the
military and the Dynalifter currently is being
considered for a military contract. Martin said
he and Rist have been talking to high-level
officials at the Pentagon about their concept
for several years and just recently, the
military has started talking about using hybrid
technology.
Ohio Airships will be
competing April 15 at the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency Industry Day in
Arlington, Va. DARPA is the central research and
development organization for the U.S. Department
of Defense.
Martin said because military
usage is just one aspect of the Dynalifter, the
project will move forward even if Ohio Airships
is not chosen to build a hybrid craft for the
military.
“It won’t be the end of the
project if we don’t get a contract, but winning
would help fast track the Dynalifter so we could
move along in other areas,” Martin
said.
Major portions of the Dynalifter
assembly process have been done by local
companies, including Design Fabrication and Jim
Fedor of Ground Effects, both in Mantua, and
Quick Service Welding of Kent.
“Winning
this contract would bring a lot of recognition
to Ohio, especially Portage County,” Rist said.
For more information on Ohio Airships,
call (866) 568-0652 or visit the Web site at
www.dynalifter.com.
Ð
E-mail:
mkosinski@recordpub.net
Phone:
(330) 296-9657
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