Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!sun-barr!newstop!sun!amdcad!amdcad!military From: chidsey@smoke.brl.mil (Irving Chidsey) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Airships? Message-ID: <1991Jun10.023344.12415@amd.com> Date: 7 Jun 91 14:46:14 GMT References: <1991May31.061011.12752@amd.com> <1991Jun7.072129.8013@amd.com> Sender: military@amd.com Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD. Lines: 38 Approved: military@amd.com From: Irving Chidsey henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >I think the real problem here is simply the numbers: to be cost-effective >at a speed an order of magnitude lower, an airship has to carry a payload >an order of magnitude heavier than a cargo aircraft, or else have some >other compelling advantage. Given that heavy cargo aircraft carry 50-100 >tons of cargo (in the absence of load-distribution problems), this is >going to be the mother of all airships. I doubt that it is worthwhile. But heavy lift cargo planes require big runways. Airships compete more with helicopters if there are no runways. However, as a target it is much bigger than a barn door, and gas bags are much thinner than the steel plates they make cargo ships out of. There may be a niche for airships, but it may also be too small for them to develop. Is there enough space between: Cargo ships -- big slow, need ports. Cargo planes -- smaller, 20 times faster, need long runways. Helicopters -- still smaller, only 7 times faster, 1/10th the range. Trains -- 2 to 5 times faster, need tracks, can't cross sea. Trucks -- 2 to 3 times faster, need roads, can't cross sea, need many. for Airships -- Helicopter speeds, long range, land nearly anywhere, but a very big target and need relative calm to land. -- I do not have signature authority. I am not authorized to sign anything. I am not authorized to commit the BRL, the DA, the DOD, or the US Government to anything, not even by implication. They do not tell me what their policy is. They may not have one. Irving L. Chidsey