Watch in pics: The newly launched world's longest aircraft

New Delhi : A 300 feet long monster, which is part plane, airship and helicopter, capable of flying non-stop for three weeks without refueling has been unveiled in Britain.Known as the HAV304, it is 113ft (34m) wide and 85ft (26m) high when in its fully helium-inflated state.It is the world's longest aircraft. That's longer than the Airbus A380 airliner and almost as long as Big Ben is high.It is also almost 30ft (8m) longer than the airlift cargo aircraft Antonov An-225, which was until now the longest aircraft ever built.It is displayed at Cardington in Bedfordshire in the only hangar big enough to accommodate the enormous craft.The aircraft was created by Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd and first flown in the USA, intended for spying missions until defence budget cutbacks meant the project was axed.It costs about $100m (£60m) and the designers are planning an even bigger version that will eventually be able to carry 50 tonnes at a time.It looks like giant airship but it has a unique aerodynamic shape that means it can also create lift just like an aeroplane wing. The cambered shape provides up to 40 per cent of the vehicle's lift.This allowed engineers make the machine heavier than air, removing the need for crew to hang onto ropes to hold it down. A number of ballonets fore and aft in each of the hulls provide pressure control.The aircraft is powered by four 350 hp, four litre V8 direct injection, turbocharged diesel engines. Two engines mounted forward on the hull and two on the stern of the hull for cruise operation.It will be vital in delivering several tonnes of humanitarian aid as well as transporting heavy freight across the world.It is environmentally friendly, being part airship filled with inert helium, and will also be used for surveillance and communications. Developers hope to make more of the ‘green vehicles' which they hope to make capable of taking off from land, water, desert, ice and fields.Now this project has received a £2.5 million grant from the government and is due to fly in the UK later this year.The company plans to produce around 10 aircrafts a year for the next four or five years.Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden and a high-profile investor in the aircraft, compared the ship to Thunderbird 2 and described it as a ‘game changer.'The designers of the aircraft are planning an even bigger version that will eventually be able to carry 50 tonnes at a time.