[Cachelot]

The logic behind this is entirely lacking

Yes :). Any hydrogen to be used in balloons would have been in standard gas bottles, and besides that, they would probably have used helium anyway. No sense in dragging something as volatile as hydrogen into a battle zone.

There's also the little matter of the trucks being differently furnished. Please don't tell me that the Iraqi would have been running two or more trailers in tandem just to fill balloons.

[stevem99]

Then why does the British military use hydrogen for its artillery ballons? I can't tell from the description whether the BMETS system produces hydrogen but it clearly uses it.

http://www.atra.mod.uk/RSA/RSA_Training/Training_Courses/Strike_Surface_to_Su/BMETS_Operator_Detai/index.htm