The Walrus concept is of a heavy-transport Airship, capable of lifting as much as one or two million pounds ( 900,000 kilograms) . It was one of the projects that were being specified and seriously considered for both civilian and military uses within the last five to ten years as a faster alternative to sea transportation, one that also offered a versatility that maritime transport could not . DARPA ( the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) funded exploratory efforts until about 2006. However, the advantages were so clear that the Walrus concept, or even a smaller adaptation of it, remained. A key issue is whether Walrus is dead or whether some version of it --- a Hybrid Ultra Large Aircraft (HULA) --- just might rise again? The need appears so great that, recently, re-arrangements and modifications of it continue to rise --- it might , like a giant ghost, continue to rise again and again in various guises . More tomorrow.
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