I guess there has been some interesting work done with aerosatics (Dirigibles) to provide better lift. I've heard that as well; very interesting. I don't now how close any of the designs are to production. That could be a lot cheaper than building a whole lotta C-17's for lift we seem to need once a decade.
My experience is now a bit dated, but when I was involved in load planning I was told to forget ever being deployed by air in an emergency (except units flying to prepositioned equipment) because the Air Force would tie up almost all the lift initially in transporting their own equipment to forward bases.
From :
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:ea3P_y3510QC:www.nas.edu/trb/publications/millennium/00137.pdf+dirigible,+future+airlift&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 "Future Airlift PlatformsExtensive research and development is under way by commercial industry to improveairlift capabilities. In addition to the new C-17s, airlift assets could be improved by the useof modular heavy lifters and ultraheavy lifters (UHLs). UHLs are a combination dirigibleand airplane with a speed of 120 knots and a payload of 500 tons. If commercial demandjustifies it, heavy lifters could be on the market in 2004 or 2005. DoD has not yet investedin this technology but is actively engaged in assessing its capabilities"
So how many do you need to life an armor division?