Whither the Army Airship?

This February I reported that the Army's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle would take to the air this spring, as scheduled.

But, that schedule is now, err, up in the air, and the Army Space and Missile Defense Command has gone mum on when the football-field sized airship will take its first flight. A command spokesman said they'll let me and the whole world know when it does happen, but did not provide a date.

The mission of the LEMV is to hover over the battlefield with a mess of sensors for up to three weeks, though no one has ever explained to me how the Army plans to feed the crew.

The Navy, meanwhile, spiffed up its only blimp, the MZ-3A, with a new paint job and displayed it in an old dirigible hangar at Lakehurst, N.J., last Friday.

The Naval Research Laboratory uses the MZ-3A to test sensors, and Steve Huett, program manager for the blimp, said, "You can operate an airship for 40 percent of the cost of fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters."

That only works if the airship manages to get airborne.