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Hybrid Airships – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_airship

Recent development efforts have been driven by military concern over the “destination ballast issue” in a cargo hauling mission. The military relevance and operational utility of hybrid airships is unclear because of their combined use of lifting gas and the need for aerodynamics to generate at least 40% of their lift, which results in offsetting inefficiencies that seriously impair mission performance and cost effectiveness.  This limits payloads and time on station. The fact they these ships are built in short, wide profiles increases their operation and capital costs relative to longer, cigar shaped profiles which traditionally operate at or near neutral buoyancy, which makes them highly payload and cost efficient.

Hybrid airships are heavier than air platforms like airplanes, not lighter than air platforms. The term Hybrid refers to how lift is generated, inferring multiple means, the main one being power that is generated as a result of burning fuel. This is not analogous to the modern use of the word “hybrid” as in the car where it is understood to mean lower fuel use (clearly a good thing). On the contrary, Hybrid Airships need for multiple sources of lift means the converse is true of them, that they displace mission payload to carry fuel and use more fuel rather than less because they cannot float in the air like a true lighter than air airship and and must burn fuel in order to fly.

Hybrid airships were designed solely as a technical solution to what is referred to as the “destination ballast issue” in a cargo hauling mission, which is only relevant in areas with no support or available ballast and cargo would hypothetically be offloaded. Given these facts, it is unclear why a hybrid airship was selected as a persistent ISR platform. The hybrid is an inefficient design that requires that mission payload be traded for the fuel required to fly.

The origins of the hybrid airship date to the 1970′s when fuel prices were low. Oil prices today hover around $90 and are likely to rise further. The 21st century is characterized by an increasingly interconnected global economy that is dependent on affordable transportation and logistics. For western civilizations, peace and stability are strategic imperatives. This is one reason why oil prices are a national security issue.

For comparison, in 1929 the Graf Zeppelin (a LTA ship) hauled 60 metric tons (134,000 lbs.) 7,000 nautical miles from Germany to Japan, non stop, in 3.5 days. This was in an era when airplanes built out of wood and canvas were just being phased out in favor of metal skinned aircraft.