Yes, this is a bit revolutionary. Yeah, yeah, they said that about smartphones and Skype and the Internet.
Here we go again? Well, we need to give it a chance. Sure, it comes off the back of Airship Industries that put in a lot of R&D but didn't get visibly very far. They put in a lot of R&D because the technologies didn't exist 10 years ago to solve Munk's beermat list of issues: high strength skin, vectored thrust etc. This is only just possible now so we're right on the cusp.
It's not another white elephant airship remember: it's got a curved wing profile, vectored thrust, low docking point so it doesn't need a huge mast and landing gear that can blow in and out. It's also very compartmentalised and filled to very low pressure so you can hole it significantly and neither will it explode or deflate much.
The technology was destructively tested by the US Army who wouldn't have invested so much in it if it didn't have potential. Whilst Bruce could afford to lose his quarter mil, it's also been awarded a lot of green and regional funding that would only have gone to a worthy project.
Yes, you will need to get around the history of the word 'airship'. By all means give it a fair critique, but recall Concorde had plenty of doubters.
Yes, you will actually need to go to Cardington on the 'hard hat' hangar tour and ask the staff there as I did. Just join the club for life membership of £25 and sign up for a tour, they run them monthly and you get to ask what you like for 90 minutes. No question is off limits & nowhere else can you get up close to something this ambitious. They have a big, enthusiastic and capable team from all sorts of backgrounds who have done their sums.
True British innovation & I for one will be there when they roll it out in the spring.