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From: fcrary@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Crary)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Airships?
Message-ID: <1991Jun7.072149.8087@amd.com>
Date: 1 Jun 91 06:51:40 GMT
References: <1991May31.061011.12752@amd.com>
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From: fcrary@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Crary)


microsoft!t-scotta@uunet.uu.net writes:
>A large airship cruising at 35-40 kts, about
>double the speed of a cargo ship, would be able to carry a reasonable load.

I do not know about cargo uses, but I once saw a study on the use of an
airship as part of a carrier group. The suggested craft would have
served the role now filled by the E-2 aircraft and the Aegis crusiers.
E.g it would have carried long range radar and anti-air missiles.
Supposedly, it would have increased a carrier's strike capability be
eliminating the need for the E-2, some KA-6 and F-14 aircraft. These
would have been replaced by A-6/A-7/FA-18 aircraft. The airship was
protected from air-to-missiles by the assumption that anything big
enough to harm an aluminum skinned airship was big enough to be shot down.

So far as I know, there has been no follow-up to this paper study.

Frank Crary