This whale-like entry into KLM Indonesia’s aircraft design competition reminds me of the French ” Manned Cloud ” concept from a few years back. The WB-1010 would seat more than 1500 people, and use a combination of super-jet, helium, and wind power. The concept’s designer, Reindy Allendra , imagines the aircraft being constructed from material similar to the giant Airbus A380 ’s GLARE composite: Glass-Reinforced Fiber Metal Laminate made of thin layers of metal and glass fiber. The WB-1010 would supplement its fuel use with the ability to harvest wind energy into electricity.

Sometimes it feels like I’m already living in the future. The U.S Army ’s Space and Missile Defense command plans to have an unmanned spy-ship capable of loitering at 20,000-feet (for up to three weeks) ready to deploy by mid-2011. Dubbed the Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) , the craft will be based on Lockheed Martin ’s P-791 experimental hybrid airship, which you can see in the video below. The smaller P-791 was 125-foot long, but flew six tests in 2006. It’s known as a hybrid because only 80% of its lift comes from buoyancy; the other 20% comes from three downward thrusters on each side. As for the LEMV: a 40-foot long, 15-foot wide area behind the only sometimes-manned cockpit will carry intelligence systems, like radar and wide-area motion sensors, that will beam information back to commanders on the ground.

In a plot that’s crazy (and evil genius) enough to be from James Bond, three people have been arrested after police discovered their plan to free a drug trafficker from an island prison using a 13-foot airship carrying night goggles, climbing gear and camouflage paint. It’s believed that the inmate (of the Salto del Negro prison on the Canary Island of Las Palmas) was to scale the prison wall and speed off in a waiting car. The arrested men had setup an elaborate surveillance operation of the prison that involved a camouflaged tent, powerful binoculars, telephoto lenses, and motion detection sensors. But authorities caught wind of the plan when they intercepted the inflatable zeppelin as it arrived from the Italian town of Bergamo.