1. M1400 Lighter-Than-Air Aircraft
WORLD’S MOST AFFORDABLE ISR:
Meeting Today’s ISR Demand with Innovation, Integration, and Cost Effectiveness

2. M1400 Airship Characteristics
Largest UAV in the world
Over 100K ft3 of available payload area: unprecedented mission flexibility
Up to 6,500 lb payload weight capacity
Eight (8) major independent ISR payloads
Most Bits per Dollar per Day
Very low operating cost
Most powerful UAV-based computer in existence
Enables on-board processing
Minimizes air-to-ground data
Semi-Automated sensor-to-sensor cueing for enhanced threat detection
Increases number of payloads that can be simultaneously deployed and operated
Modular payload integration architecture
Significantly reduces aircraft-payload integration time and cost
Very long endurance
2-7 days depending on payload & altitude
Largest UAV electrical power generation capacity (120 kVA)
Maneuvering Engine
Turbine Propulsion
Power Car + Diesel Main Drive Engines
1,610 ft3 (23 ft x 10 ft x 7 ft) Payload Car Volume

3. Blue Devil Block II: On-going USAF program leveraging the Mav6 M1400 airship for persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations.
“…at a 500-nautical mile combat radius, the Air Force’s BD2 would have a payload-duration about 60 times greater than the Predator’s and more than 10 times greater than the Reaper’s.”
Congressional Budget Office

4. M1400 Operational Concept Example
Potential Coverage of SW Border
SENSOR COVERAGE
Operating Altitude
20,000 ft MSL
EO/IR (Wide Aperture)
110 mi radius (38,000 mi2 0.5m GSD
SAR-MTI Radar
> 150 mi radius (> 76,000 mi2 coverage)
SIGINT
200 mi radius (125,000 mi2 coverage)

5. M1400 Comprehensive ISR Capability
Hrs
Potential M1400 ISR Sensor Coverage
Operating Altitude (ft)
20,000
“Eyes”
110 mi radius (38,000 mi2 coverage)
“Ears”
200 mi radius (125,000 mi2 coverage)
A single M1400 can provide the types
of ISR capability of these 7 ISR systems (SIGINT, COMINT, GMTI, EO/IR, HSI, etc.): simultaneously; at 3 to 10 times the duration; accomplish the processing on-board; and do it all for a fraction of the cost… 12 12 32 12 ?
hrs
On-station Vs= .5 16

6. SIGNINT + COMINT + GMTI + EO/IR + HSI
M1400: Value Proposition
SIGNINT + COMINT + GMTI + EO/IR + HSI
Days 1 2 3 4 5
A single M1400 can provide the types
of ISR capability of these 7 ISR systems (SIGINT, COMINT, GMTI, EO/IR, HSI, etc.): simultaneously; at 3 to 10 times the duration; accomplish the processing on-board; and do it all for a fraction of the cost…
12 hour endurance
$42K/hr
Sorties overlap to maintain Persistent Surveillance
12 hour endurance
$45k/hr
32 hour endurance
$32k/hr
Days 1 2 3 4 5 OR
12 hour endurance
$42k/hr
120 hour endurance
$4k/hr
12 hour endurance
$36k/hr
0.5 hour endurance ?
16 hour endurance
$4k/hr 12
# of Aircraft
Required for
120 Hours of
Continuous
Coverage
54X 9
>$27M
$0.5M 6 3
for 120 hours of Persistent Surveillance
for 120 hours of Persistent Surveillance
Time
the cost
Time

7. M1400 Modular Payload Integration

8. M1400 Payload Options
M1400 can support the simultaneous deployment of a variety of mission payloads—and integrate all with on-board computers, processing, and mass storage.
Wide-Area EO/IR
Synthetic Aperture Radar
High Powered High Definition Full Motion Video
On-board Processing
High Bandwidth Data Links
Weapons Modules
Multi-Mode Radar

9. M1400 Key Elements Innovation Integration Cost-Effectiveness
Adapted mature airship design to achieve rapid deliverable: Leverages traditional hull design with less complexity and fewer moving parts than alternatives
Open Architecture: Sensor agnostic payload infrastructure
Extensible Ground Segment: Designed to meet expeditionary ISR requirements with local multi- sensor data management, correlation, and storage
Integration
System-of-Systems Design: Designed as a multi-INT system from the beginning
Mission-tailorable sensor suite: Allows rapid reconfiguration in hours to variety of sensor or comm payloads
Moves data processing to point of origin: Meets the tsunami of data challenge
Cost-Effectiveness
High payload/ Long endurance enables greater cost-effectiveness: Equivalent pound/hours of ISR would require 10s of multiples of other remotely piloted aircraft
Per flying dollar spent BD2 delivers more ISR capability per hour than other aircraft

10. M1400 Capabilities: Why it’s Unique
Provides persistence with largest multi-int payload in existence
Wide Area EO/IR with largest aperture EO/IR spot capability
Largest “real estate” for SIGINT antenna arrays on any ISR platform
Rapid tipping & cueing provides actionable ISR to users in seconds
Sharing of event and geolocation data across disparate sensors directly to users
Potential for automated sensor to sensor cuing (e.g. SIGINT to IMINT sensors)
Find, fix, identify, and track HVI/HVT with HD sensing and SIGINT queues
On-board processing = more info to users with less bandwidth
Moves data processing from ground to air reducing sensor-to-shooter latency
Potential as focal point of an ISR constellation integrating multiple platforms
Multi-sensor processing ground station
Multi-sensor C2 and visualization in the field reduces sensor analyst requirements
Mission-tailorable sensor suite—in hours not months/years
Accelerates deployment and use of new sensing capabilities
Adaptability to situation not available with any other ISR asset

11. 1 39 M1400 Value Proposition To keep 6,000 lbs of ISR equipment on
station for 78 hours it takes: 1 39
Current Fixed- Wing UAVs
M1400 OR
468,000 lb-hrs ISR ÷ 11,900 lb-hrs ISR = 39.3 MQ-series RPAs per M1400
468,000 lb-hrs ISR ÷ 11,900 lb-hrs ISR = 39.3 MQ-series RPAs per M1400
6,000 lbs ISR equipment x 78 hrs = 468,000 lb-hrs
of ISR Mission Capability per aircraft
850 lbs ISR equipment x 14 hrs = 11,900 lb-hrs
of ISR Mission Capability per aircraft
High payload/Long endurance enables greater cost-effectiveness

12. M1400 Value Proposition
Current Fixed-
Wing UAVs
M1400 7
times the ISR
mission payload
6,000 lbs of ISR equipment
850 lbs of ISR equipment
5-6
times the
endurance AT
78 hrs
14 hrs
75%
the cost per
flight hour
FOR
$1,117/hr
$1,456/hr
( 6,000 lbs x 78 hrs ÷ $1,117/hr ) ÷ ( 850 lbs x 14 hrs ÷ $1,456/hr ) =
Per flying dollar spent you get 52 times more ISR per hour with M1400 than current fixed-wing UAVs

13. CBO Payload-Duration Comparison
300,000
250,000
200,000
M1400
Payload-Duration (Pound-Hours)
150,000
100,000
50,000
MQ-9 Reaper
Grey Eagle
MQ-1 Predator
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
Combat Radius (Nautical Miles)
Source: Congressional Budget Office based on data provided by manufacturers.

14. Blue Devil 2 Progress

15. Example M1400 Mission Potential
Humanitarian Assistance
Rapid Map Refresh
Disaster Relief
Emergency Response
Persistent Presence
Air Sampling
Border Patrol
Crop Monitoring
Law Enforcement
Insect/disease Control
Traffic Management
Flood Control
Crowd Control
Nuclear Monitoring
Market Analysis
Counter-terrorism
Counter-Drug Ops
Early Warning
Communications Relay
Counter-proliferation
Cell Phone Networking
Counter-piracy
Home/Facility Security
Harbor Control
Pipeline Monitoring
Special Operations