The Airship's Potential for Intertheater and Intratheater Airlift

This paper asserts there exists a dangerous GAP in US strategic intertheater transportation capabilities, propounds a model describing the GAP, and proposes a solution to the problem.





Logistics requirements fall into three broad, overlapping categories: Immediate, Mid-Term, and Sustainment requirements. These categories commence and terminate at different times depending on the theater of operations, with Immediate being the most time sensitive and Sustainment the least. They are:


1. Immediate: War materiel needed as soon as combat forces are inserted into a theater of operations in order to enable them to attain a credible defensive posture.


2. Mid-Term: War materiel, which strengthens in-place forces and permits expansion to higher force levels.


3. Sustainment: War materiel needed to maintain combat operations at the desired tempo.