May 4 1980
From The Space Library
The U.S. Coast Guard signed an agreement with NASA April 29 for work leading to an operational lighter-than-air machine that might constitute a fleet of blimps by the early 1990s, according to the New York Times. Coordinating the two agencies' research would reduce costs: NASA scientists had been studying use of lighter-than-air craft to lift heavy equipment and would now work on developing stronger synthetics and better adhesives for the blimp bag, more sophisticated electronics, and more automated procedures for ground handling to do away with the need for large ground crews.
Lt. Cdr. Kenneth Williams, chief of the Coast Guard technology branch, said that they sought a vehicle for use in "search and rescue, law enforcement, and other patrol functions." The Navy had abandoned its airship program in the early 1960s because fuel was cheap; it "costs a heck of a lot more today," Williams said, and a Coast Guard-Navy study had found fuel-efficient airships operationally and technically feasible for maritime patrol work in combination with cutters and conventional aircraft. (NY Times, May 4/80, 56)
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