Our military might hampered by snow | Letter

Prof Keith Hayward recalls evaluating the MoD's use of airships in Northern Ireland in the 1990s

Marina Hyde (From codpieces to zeppelins: here's to the best of Brexit, 8 December) triggered a memory: back in the 1990s I had a Ministry of Defence contract to evaluate the military uses of airships. The MoD had leased an airship to explore possible applications, which was flown by a team of army helicopter pilots but led by a Coldstream Guards officer. The aim was to explore the development of an effective surveillance platform to fill gaps in ground-based coverage.

I was shown a map of the towers that dotted the Irish border by a special forces procurement official. The hope was that an airship (surprisingly illusive from the ground) would fill the blind spots that the IRA used to infiltrate into Ulster. Marina Hyde is correct in noting the airship's weakness in bad weather. It was also vulnerable to machine guns, but the damage would cause leakage and a slow loss of lift, embarrassing but not necessarily fatal. This secret weapon was well known to the IRA. As a customs guard it might still have use, as long as it did not encounter Ulster wet snow, a unique limitation on performance.
Prof Keith Hayward
London