American Blimp MZ-3

The airship is propeller-driven by two 180 hp (130 kW) Lycoming engines, providing a maximum cruise speed of just under 50 kn (93 km/h).

The crewed 178-foot LTA craft has an operational payload capability of up to 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) and can remain aloft and nearly stationary for more than twelve hours, performing various missions in support of technology development for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) concepts.

In May 2006, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron TWENTY, Lighter-than-Air Vehicle (LTAV) Detachment (VX-20 LTAV Det) began regular flight operations from Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst located in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

On 5 July 2010, the MZ-3A was re-deployed to the Jack Edwards National Airport in Gulf Shores, Alabama to assist in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill recovery operation.

[5][6] In February 2012, four months after its formal acceptance by the Navy, the MZ-3A airship was at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Ship at Lake Front Airport , New Orleans , Louisiana in July 2010.
At a ribbon-cutting event, 26 October 2011, at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), Lakehurst, New Jersey, the MZ-3A airship bears the newly adorned insignia of Scientific Development Squadron ONE ( VXS-1 ), and the banner of the U.S. Navy .