https://www.airships.net The Graf Zeppelin, Hindenburg, U.S. Navy Airships, and other Dirigibles Sat, 04 Feb 2017 03:10:14 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 https://www.airships.net/us-navy-rigid-airships/#comment-23921 Sun, 14 Aug 2011 01:11:46 +0000 https://www.airships.net/?page_id=1224#comment-23921 The case for Naval Surveillance LTA craft;
The pirates of the western Indian ocean have created havok in the shipping industry. Their country of origin is perfectly placed to control the waters leading to and from the Suez Canal as well as the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Recent developments by the Somali pirates have extended their range off the Somali coast to halfway to India’s shores. NATO surface forces cannot control the random nature of these pirates. Here’s were a loitering, high duration aerial platform comes into use.
The airship offers unique over water capabilities proven by the US Navy in WW-2 anti-submarine escort work and Cold War radar picket duty. The K-ships and later larger craft all had high endurance capabilities over the steady conditions that oceans bring. The Indian ocean is good for airship activity with it’s warmer temperatures, and proximity to friendly bases in Diego Garcia make for deployment of LTA patrol craft to escort, search and locate pirate craft.
An airship can outrun any small pirate craft while maintaining a safe distance from the pirate’s weapons.
The airship can vector in force, or if need be, dispatch force directly to eliminate pirate activities in the region. Week long deployments are possible with the right sized airship. That will leave a narrower window of opportunity to the pirates to stalk, stage and attack their prey.

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