The only lighter-than-air (LTA) platform currently in the Defense Department aviation inventory landed at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, on April 1, 2011, to join the Centennial of Naval Aviation celebration during the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF) Symposium being held there.
Assigned to the Navy Test and Evaluation Squadron (VXS) One, in conjunction with the Naval Research Laboratory and Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the MZ-3A airship represents a return of the airship to naval aviation.
Using the McGuire-Dix Joint Army / Navy / Air Force Base at Lakehurst, New Jersey, as its Home Port, the MZ-3A is used as an airborne laboratory for military and other government agencies' science and technology experiments.
"The airship's slow airspeed and low vibration are qualities that make the MZ-3A a useful platform for experiments", said Naval Air Warfare Division Public Affairs Officer Billy Ray Brown .
"Its reconnaissance capabililties were used during the 2010 Deeepwater Horizon crisis response, when it was dispatched to the Gulf of Mexico to assist with oil tracking and recovery coordination", added Brown.
The above Internet news article was adapted, arranged, and redacted by Airship Universe, based on an official U.S. Navy press release. It is unfortunate that this landmark article was not broadcast far and wide to the public, in particular those who scoff at airships as a useful modality, or cite the Hindenburg disaster at every opportunity, or simply don't understand that the airship is making a comeback despite being essentially ignored by the mainstream media .
As the basic article was produced as an official document by the U.S. government, it is free of copyright to the best of my understanding. Please spread the word.
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