Nothing new here really. The concept has been around for decades. Cargolifter in Germany, for one, were planning a large capacity cargo 'ship. As far as the airborne surveillance application, that's been around for years also. Landmine detection has also been done, I was lucky enough to be a pilot in Kosovo of an airship (American Blimp Corp. A60+) doing exactly this.
From a flying point of view, a challenging craft! Immense fun.
The post before mine states that "being heavier than air, it doesn't need a substantial ground crew" - I will believe that when I see it. Regular airships such as the Zeppelin NT don't use such a large ground crew either. Infact, during the late nineties we trialled a device called a hydromast which would have eliminated half of the ground crew. This was with the DERA at Farnborough. I don't know what the outcome of the device was, but don't believe it ever saw commercial usage.
I wish them all the best, Roger Munk was persistent, I'll give him that!
Last edited by 500 above; 4th Sep 2011 at 17:16.