The Gulf War of 1990–91 revealed a logistical gap between the US military’s small, overnight airlift capabilities and its immense, but far-from-overnight sealift capabilities. Those first combat troops to arrive had no way to sustain combat operations until supplies arrived weeks later, via “fast” surface ships. Fortunately, their Iraqi enemy gave them months to build up their forces, and 95 percent of American materiel eventually arrived via sealift.
This need for mid-term transport led Lieutenant Colonel Donald E. Ryan, Jr., of the USAF to consider the airship’s potential for airlift. In his estimation, a modern Hindenburg would be able to carry roughly as much as a cargo jet, would be able to reach anywhere on the globe within 10 days, and would cost just a fraction of what a jet costs.
Further, airships can land without an airstrip, they can carry “outsized” cargo, they’re almost invisible to radar, and they’re surprisingly robust:
For example, the only US airship lost in combat during World War II, the K-74, took three 88mm gun hits and 200 rounds of 20mm cannon fire from a submarine it was attacking before finally going down.
If you read Ryan’s biography, it’s not clear he has any aerodynamics training, despite working for the Air Force.
I skimmed his thesis and did not see any description of how lift would be controlled as the weight of the airship changes by a few hundred tons.
For example, on page 30, an airship drops 200 tons of cargo, yet has to rev up his engines to take off.
In real life, it would be like releasing a cork you held 3 feet underwater (assuming the airship was close to neutral buoyancy before dropping the cargo).
If the engines were providing 200 tons of lift before the drop-off, what you really have is a helicopter and why bother with all the gas?
Indeed, using irreplaceable helium as your lifting gas introduces operational considerations — namely, you can’t just vent off the gas:
Ryan also ignores any other alternatives between current jet transports and ships — he doesn’t consider slower, less-expensive airplanes or faster, more-expensive ships.
I invite you to see more at militaryairships.blogspot.com or turtleairships.blogspot.com.