Morgan:
Unfortunately for all the current promise of drones, they still are expensive and they crash a lot. The actual machine may not be that expensive (for the moment) but it takes a lot of people to run one. Aviation Week quoted an Air Force general last year I think as saying for each Predator you run you need 120 people. Their accidents rate are far in excess of those of manned aircraft.
Airships have their place but except in the beginning of military aviation and some minor ASW use in WWII they haven't been used because they don't work out so well. The big problem that they have, even the hybrids to my knowledge, is they are very vulnerable to windy conditions. That is understandable given that they float in the air. Military use of a vehicle that can't be used in high winds or gusty conditions, or God forbid, in the vicinity of thunderstorms must be limited. They seem to have always been a great idea until the time comes to use them.
Combining an expensive flying machine that crashes a lot with a flying machine that must not be exposed to strong winds doesn't seem as if it would be a profitable endeavor.
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