More from Rolling StoneU. Rolling Stone, Hayes wrote that papers by Chinese academics working on airship research express “a widespread belief that airships can serve important roles as an affordable alternative to satellite capabilities in both civil and military functions” and can act as a relatively low-cost supplement or replacement to more conventional platforms in the fields of Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR), earth monitoring, and communications. ”Hayes has also identified a number of airship design teams from mentions in Chinese-language open source literature