Vinyl-Coated Hangars Give the Military More Flexibility
A Florida building design company has developed a new role for vinyl in portable military aircraft hangars that can be quickly assembled and disassembled for air campaigns.
The U.S. Air Force has contracted with American Spaceframe Fabricators, Inc. (ASFI) in Crystal River, Fla. to make several hangars over a five-year period after the government tested a prototype structure at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The portable shelters provide more lighting, space and environmental controls than the existing permanent air force docks. This protects the Air Force's treasured assets, the $2 billion B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, from the elements by maintaining exacting temperature and humidity levels to support the unique coatings and fabric that make the airplanes virtually invisible to radars.
After they proved their worth at Whiteman, the climate-controlled hangars were sent to bases in England and on the British-controlled island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
The dome-like shelters, which are basically aluminum trusses covered with two layers of tan-colored, vinyl-coated fabric, can be disassembled for shipping by boat or plane, helping achieve the faster turnaround required when they are erected on foreign soil. The hangars are also reportedly able to withstand winds of up to 110 miles per hour and snow loads of 40 pounds per square foot.
Each shelter cost $2.5 million, covers 26,000 square feet (a 30 percent larger footprint than the permanent docks) and is 55 feet tall, 126 feet long and 250 feet wide. For more information about the shelters, visit www.asfi.net.