Really look at this!! They could deploy these things like carrier groups in the navy. A group might consist of 5. The first 1 or 2 full of fighters. second group would be hellicopters, at similar weights to the f-16's, 80 a piece. The latter part of the group would be marines/army. And finally bring up the rear, supply. You could probably work it so that these things could re-fuel each other.
Granted most of these things depend of the operating altitudes of the blimps. If they can get up over 40,000 feet, they are untouchable. Defense at that altitude: toss a few fighters out and let them take care of any similar emeny threat.
The helicopter part of the contingent is most vulnerable, as they would have to go down to less than 20,000 feet to unleash the helicopters.
Once they got there, there would be very little left that couldn't be dealt with.
I see this, in typical military finese as:
Long range bombers blow the hell out of what ever area they wanted to land these in.
The fighters get there and do similar, more refined work on the actual landing area.
The hellicopters arrive with troops and secure the landing area and start a perimeter.
When the perimeter is safe the army units and supplies come down.
Do you realize what this is? It is a flying aricraft carrier. Just doing remedial research on the weight of an f-16, it can be considered to be less than 10 tons. Using this number applied to the haul weights and you can see how this thing will be able to carry anywhere in between 50 to 100 f-16's.
Slashdot Mirror
Really look at this!! They could deploy these things like carrier groups in the navy. A group might consist of 5. The first 1 or 2 full of fighters. second group would be hellicopters, at similar weights to the f-16's, 80 a piece. The latter part of the group would be marines/army. And finally bring up the rear, supply. You could probably work it so that these things could re-fuel each other. Granted most of these things depend of the operating altitudes of the blimps. If they can get up over 40,000 feet, they are untouchable. Defense at that altitude: toss a few fighters out and let them take care of any similar emeny threat. The helicopter part of the contingent is most vulnerable, as they would have to go down to less than 20,000 feet to unleash the helicopters. Once they got there, there would be very little left that couldn't be dealt with. I see this, in typical military finese as: Long range bombers blow the hell out of what ever area they wanted to land these in. The fighters get there and do similar, more refined work on the actual landing area. The hellicopters arrive with troops and secure the landing area and start a perimeter. When the perimeter is safe the army units and supplies come down.
Do you realize what this is? It is a flying aricraft carrier. Just doing remedial research on the weight of an f-16, it can be considered to be less than 10 tons. Using this number applied to the haul weights and you can see how this thing will be able to carry anywhere in between 50 to 100 f-16's.