Dominant Logistics
The SkyCat 1000 - A Brand New Day
When we talk about strategic deployability today, we are limited to discussions that inevitably focus on the use of ships. With the exception of the 82nd Airborne division, virtually all U.S. forces are forced to rely on large, slow-moving ships to get their materials to war. In theory, the lighter units and some smaller formations can deploy by air, but this really hasn't been practical. Until now, that is.
Today is a brand new day folks. An aerial vehicle has been designed that has the power to change the entire face of strategic deployment and sustainment. As of late, there has been talk of bringing back the blimps of old, with the new name of Lighter Than Air vehicles, or LTAs. Of particular interest to this discussion is a model called the SkyCat 1000. The "1000" in the vehicle's name references the amount of tonnage it is capable of hauling in a single flight. Some have mentioned the positive role that this airship could play in deploying forces abroad, but nobody has really hit on just how revolutionary this vehicle can be.
Moving One Battalion Per Airship
No, that title isn't a misprint - with a little effort, the SkyCat 1000 has the ability to carry an entire light infantry battalion in a single load, with a nice safety margin in weight as well. Even the substantially heavier and more powerful version of the light infantry battalion that I have proposed would fit within the limits of a single SkyCat load (for those checking out the math, it'll take a fairly large shoehorn and some grease to wedge it all in, but it's doable and no worse than existing rail-load clearances). For the even heavier mechanized and cavalry formations I've suggested, company/troop sized elements would be a single load. What this means is that entire units can load up and travel together. Many have touched on this ability but I haven't seen anyone mention the critical impact this plays in deployment.
Airships Faster Than Aircraft?
We have a tendency to look at speed as an absolute measurement. The problem with this is that we can miss out on critical effects that combine to form our overall deployment speed. For example, conventional aircraft can fly at speeds of 500-600mph which is MUCH faster than the 100+mph that the modern airships can fly. But does this mean that conventional aircraft are capable of faster deployment speeds? In reality, even though the conventional aircraft can FLY at five times the speed of an airship, for all but the longest distance deployments, the airship actually is capable of faster deployment speeds. How is this possible?
The problem with conventional aircraft, particularly in a deployment role, is that it takes a lot of aircraft to move anything but the smallest of forces. The process plays out something like the following:
Step One: Deployment orders come down for a unit and logistics personnel begin the process of lining up aircraft for deployment. For most units, this means hundreds of aircraft, which cannot all be fit on the typical airfield at once, if enough aircraft are even available at all. Arrangements must also be made for aerial refueling assets. We also must complete a weighing and inspection process to figure which vehicles and pallets will go on which aircraft. Under the best of conditions, this process requires a minimum of one day but will typically require two days or more.
Step Two: The deployment "ballet" begins. Aircraft on the ground are loaded up and moved for take-off. As they move to the flight line, new aircraft are brought in to load and aircraft in the air are lined up to land for loading. We literally form a circuit of aircraft taking off for deployment, loaded aircraft rolling to take their spot on the flight line, and another aircraft lands for loading. A single existing light infantry battalion can require a dozen planes or more depending on the aircraft used. This circuit of getting everyone loaded and off the ground will typically take an entire day or more depending on the size of the unit deploying and the airfield being used.
Step Three: The flight itself can take an entire day all by itself if we're heading to the Middle East. Most flights will require a half a day while some may involve a series of refueling hops depending on the refueling arrangements that have been made. In general, we should figure a complete day here to allow for ground refuelings and longer flights.
Step Four: The entire circuit process experienced in loading now must be repeated on the other end. The aircraft land, unload as quickly as possible and clear the airfield so that other aircraft can come in (unless you're the 82nd Airborne division, the only division out of 28 Army divisions capable of jumping from the planes). By the time we can sort out all of the vehicles, equipment, and personnel (remember, personnel usually can't ride with their equipment), we've burned up another day forming up and getting into a position to carry out the mission.
Is it any wonder that many, particularly in the airborne community, believe we should have vehicles and equipment preloaded onto aircraft? Under the best of conditions, it will still take conventional aircraft four days or more to deploy a substantial force abroad, even though the aircraft itself can fly the distance in a matter of hours. The inefficiency of the process inflicts a four-day penalty on deployment speed, and it should be noted that this penalty is present regardless of the distance being deployed - long or short, you're still looking at four days minimum to deploy a useful force by air. We play various games to work around it, like advance preparations to get some of our "penalty time" out of the way before it is needed, but it still takes four days or more when it is all figured out.
But what about with airships? In the case of the SkyCat 1000, we still have to weigh the vehicles to arrange them for proper balance, but everything for a battalion can ride on the same airship, including the personnel and their gear. Park four airships on a conventional military airfield (which should be more than large enough to handle four airships, given their dimensions) and an entire light infantry brigade combat team can load up literally in a matter of hours when the call goes out. Throw in a fifth airship for mid-air refueling and this entire package can be in the air and on its way in a timeframe that really shouldn't exceed six hours if the unit is one of the prepped units that is being kept on notice for rapid deployment (ie bags and trucks packed and ready to go). And when this unit lands on the other end, the entire battalion rolls off as one unit with all of its equipment and gear, ready to go in a time frame not unlike that in which the aircraft was loaded. Where conventional aircraft carry a four-day deployment penalty, the airship includes a penalty of less than one for a brigade on stand-by. The airship can fly for three days (over 7000miles) and still be on the ground and unloaded faster than conventional aircraft, under any realistic circumstances.
Redefining Rapid Deployment
Where things tilt even more heavily in favor of the airship is for larger size units. To move even the lightest of existing divisions will typically require about 600 conventional aircraft sorties. Cycling these aircraft through the typical military airfield will take days in and of itself. But with airships, only about 20 SkyCats would be necessary for an entire light infantry division. From the time the division has its bags packed, the entire formation can be in the air and on its way in about a day. Two divisions, coming from two different airfields and locations would take only 40 airships and the same one day, assuming we had enough airships to go around. In the case of conventional aircraft, we most definitely DO NOT have enough aircraft to go around (nor will we ever due to cost limitations) so for two divisions, we're really looking at a matter of a week and a half or more to cycle through enough aircraft for two divisions. One day versus ten days for getting the full load off the ground; which concept REALLY gives us the faster deployment speed?
In the case of strategic sustainment, the penalty days really go out the window as both types of aircraft form a constant stream of goods into the combat theater. Here, the advantage of the airship is the sheer quantity of goods it can deliver. To put this into perspective, understand that the cargo area of the SkyCat 1000, if a deck is included to divide the area into two levels, can hold the equivalent cargo of roughly 50 C-130s, in both area and weight. The usable deck space of the SkyCat is over 10,000 square feet but is also 26ft high, leaving plenty of room for a second deck. You can fit a lot of just about anything into this amount of space. This is, quite literally, a flying warehouse for sustainment goods.
Efforts are ongoing to attempt to extend the viability of the C-5 aircraft fleet. These efforts include expensive proposals to refit and upgrade the existing planes for continued use even though the planes are getting very old and worn out. Our top priority should instead be the procurement of SkyCat1000s to replace the C-5 fleet. Forced entry and air drop missions will still require the use of large conventionals like the C-17 but these are sufficient to handle those roles. The SkyCats are necessary to meet our future deployment goals. It should also be noted that the SkyCat 1000 is an existing design based upon a proven technology - this is not the case with fantasy conventionals like the Boeing Pelican. Maybe someday, those fantasies will see the light of day but the C-5 fleet is deteriorating now, today, we don't have the ten years necessary to make the Pelican happen.
A fleet of 100 SkyCats would be more than we would ever need to meet future warfare requirements. Realistically, we could probably lease many of these to civilian companies as we do with other large aircraft. This would give us enough aircraft to rapidly deploy multiple brigade combat teams to anywhere in the world. Entire divisions of any type can be deployed in a matter of days. Sustainment needs could also be met virtually anywhere in the world as the SkyCat features a hovercraft landing gear and can thus operate from land or water. In theory, the aircraft could even be used to launch amphibious assaults by simply dropping the gates and letting amphibious vehicles drive off.
Airships are not without faults. Many describe them as virtually indestructible but that is nonsense. They may be very resilient to gun fire but I wouldn't want to see what happens against high explosive artillery or fuel-air explosive rounds, either of which could absolutely devastate this aircraft that cannot fly higher than 9000ft or faster than 100+mph (translation: easy target for big weapons that cannot currently be defeated). The ideas of making these into flying battleships border on outright foolishness in my opinion. But when it comes to the logistics side of the house, this is about as good as it gets.
Its a brand new day.
References:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/airship.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/skycat.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/art/enchanter/airship.html