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From: Arthur.Leung@Eng.Sun.COM (Arthur Leung)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: airships
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.074149.14406@amd.com>
Date: 16 Jun 91 00:32:37 GMT
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
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Approved: military@amd.com


From: Arthur.Leung@Eng.Sun.COM (Arthur Leung)


anderson@erim.org (Rod Anderson) writes:
>Airships are an intermediate platform between fixed wing aircraft and
>ship/submarines in terms of speed and endurance.  Convoy escort in
>particular seems ideally suited for them.  They could conduct search
>and localization using sonobuoys, ESM, and FLIR just like the P3.

one question about the endurance of the airship in the ASW role: what
is the on-station time being considered?  from the discussions about
convoy escort across the pond, it seems that it should be measured in
days.  because of the high endurance, crew berthing will have to be
provided, along with food, weapons, and a large supply of sonobuoys.

i'm no airship expert, but it seems that a large volume penalty might
have to be paid in order to support an atlantic convoy.  is this true?

if so, the problem may be alleviated by using ships in convoy as a
moving supply platform.  (how would you UNREP an airship?)

more seriously, how is airship employment affected by weather?  convoys
were escorted by blimp in WW II - were these year round employment?

-- arthur