CargoLifter AG, based in Berlin, is developing a 260-meter-long and 65-meter-wide airship for the transport of oversized and heavy goods weighing up to 160 metric tons - the CargoLifter CL 160. This "flying crane" will be able to carry out expensive heavy transports faster, more simply and more cost efficiently - without ever touching the ground and almost entirely independent from the local infrastructure. Already, before the CL 160 is completed, the logistics company's second product line will go on the market: the CL 75 AC transportation balloon, which has a diameter of 61 meters and is able to transport up to 75 tons.The LOI provides the basis for a more detailed joint study of possible business opportunities beyond CargoLifter's current business focus on using LTA vehicles for transporting heavy and outsized cargoes. Such opportunities could include the development of a stratospheric airship for commercial and military applications. For all such applications LTA vehicles offer a number of potential performance and cost benefits over traditional aircraft. They are environmentally friendly and require only a small logistics infrastructure. They provide constant lift independent of air speed. Their lift capability increases exponentially with vehicle size. And their low air speeds allow for more simple and affordable structures.

"Because our initial discussions have revealed a number of potential synergies and business opportunities between our two companies, this LOI is the next logical step in defining these opportunities in more depth," said George Muellner, president of the Boeing Phantom Works R&D division: "Once completed, we will have a stronger basis to decide whether entering into a long-term collaborative arrangement is in our mutual interests."

Carl von Gablenz, CEO of CargoLifter AG added : "From the outset, part of CargoLifter's strategic plan has been to enter into a long-term partnership with a major global company whose mission, interests, and capabilities are in alignment with, and complementary to, those of CargoLifter. We are delighted to pursue these detailed studies with Boeing and look forward to discovering additional synergies and opportunities."

Currently, the CargoLifter company employs 498 people, about 283 of whom are working on airship development at the dock in Briesen-Brand, near Berlin in the state of Brandenburg.