5cents,
Ok, I will give it a shot. First of all it is important to understand the commercialization of the airships will take place somewhere other than the US until the FAA is ready to establish guidelines.
Secondly, as we know, there are tons of uses for the airship and therefore "specific needs" will require different designs. That will most likely become evident when we find out more about the military prototype. Not all uses will require a Strat the length of a football field.
With the above in mind, teaming up with experts in Germany or elsewhere only seems logical to me. These folks already have proprietary designs in place specifically tailored to what certain customers are wanting and asking for. This not only adds to the Sanswire list of designs in their portfolio(Strat) but adds other high altitude vehicles to the mix.
Germany's work with rigid airships is documented and our partners have the "infrastrucure" already in place. They have designed, developed and flight tested. That pretty much speaks for itself as how we can benefit from that.
Huff's vision is a worldwide strategy. To think we can accomplish all of this without partnering of any kind would be dreaming. Team up with the best of the best to get the job done.
Look beyond just the Strat and towards many different designs and applications. That certainly seems to be what this Pr is saying. Add these applications to Sanswires growing list of near space vehicles, not just the strat.