DARPA wants a stratospheric solar wingship

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(The Pentagon) announces three contenders that are racing in its Vulture project.  This “craft” is expected to fly unmanned in the stratosphere of the earth for 5 years.  Such a device can be used for surveillance, voice or data communications, or weather analysis. 

Here’s a concept video of what this wing ship is expected to do:

Now this idea is not new.  Another company called Sanswire Network, LLC. had a similar concept a few years ago.  They branded the concept called Stratellite’s.  Which are high altitude airships that would hover lower than an orbiting satellite(stratosphere), but far above the jet stream.  At approximately 13 miles above the earth, these units were supposed to be used for broadband Internet, mobile phones, digital television, and radio signals to a large region.  It was stated that 10-15 of these strategically placed around the United States would cover all the lower 48 states with all the said services.  Unfortunately Sanswire Network, LLC has since then suffered from a CEO change and an investigation from Securities and Exchange Commission for violations.

Here’s what the Stratellite looked like: