Looking for Heavy Lift Options

I have a lot more I'd like to say, but this post is more for me to bookmark than anything. Popular mechanics is looking at heavy lift options for future military logistics.

A cornerstone of military planning is figuring out how to position who and what is needed to win the fight. Logistics can often decide the outcome of a war. That is why military planners looking at future United States combat operations are fretting over their inability to move the Army around without the benefit of well-developed airfields. It is a question of air power, but not the kind measured in laser-guided bombs or rounds fired per minute. This fight is measured in miles traveled and tonnage delivered.

Later this year, both the Army and Air Force will seek Pentagon approval to proceed to the next stages of development for new aircraft meant to carry big loads, then land on poorly built, short runways—or no runways at all. The Army and Air Force both want to fly demonstrators by 2015.

They go on to list the 6 major options pitched.

1. Massive Tilt-Rotor Aircraft
2. New Fixed-Wing Airplanes
3. Precision Airdrops
4. Converted Container Ships
5. Aircraft With Folding Wings and Rotors
6. Blimps With a Mission

Personally, I think the answer is a combination of the ones listed. I'll reserve full comment for another time, but I think it is past time the DoD takes a serious look at airships for rapid bulk transport, if for no other reason than for addressing special needs in humanitarian missions and moving large quantities of equipment off large container ships onto any beach.