This is an idea of Wietnam War, whom C130 USAF carried drone "Firebee": it's easy to launch, difficult recovery (landing?) of UAVs

V-22 Osprey manned aircraft is most appropriate. And probably the most secure and also landing on the aircraft carrier .

Here's an idea to be revisited! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Macon_(ZRS-5) Dirigibles were used nearly a century ago, and the lighter than air ships have improved a great deal since then. Loitering times for the mother ship could be extremely long since no fuel is expended in keeping it airborne.

This is not new- C-130's have already been fitted for launch&recovery of drones using a hydraulic extendable/retractable boom.
As much as C-130's cost to operate, it's not exactly cost-effective... but the military industrial complex that we all suffer from does not really care about that, do they?

Agree with Misti.
Dirigibles offer long station time with lots of lift and space for Cmd & Control & sensor systems.

This is an idea that goes back almost to the dawn of the air age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite_aircraft

I also thought about the Macon when I saw the title, but airships would address one aspect mentioned in this story. The manned cargo planes also bring speed to the equation. A C-130 cruises at 6x the top speed of an airship. Not only does the additional speed help get drones on station faster, it also makes the mothership less vulnerable. Let's face it, a big, slow airship is a sitting duck to anyone with any kind of aircraft in today's world.

Isn't this idea directly out of Russian working model ? I have seen a video clip of a Russian fighter being launched from a helicopter and landing by parachute.

The difference between most current UAVs and the Vietnam era Ryan Firebee, is that a lot of current ones fly slower than the C-130, so would may not be strong enough for external carriage at C-130 speeds. I imagine the concept has arisen to avoid the need for a forward launch and landing point that current UAVs need near the conflict zone, and to enable delivery across countries which would not tolerate a transiting UAV without 'see and avoid' technology passing through their airspace. If speed is not an issue, one approach may be a multiple aerotow, using swarming technology to keep them apart. The towline could also supply power, fuel and hard-wired signals. The Czechs have aero towed 9 Predator-sized gliders from one towplane, so the potential is there. UAV to UAV inflight refuelling has also been done, so in-flight capture of the towline would be possible.

Correctrion: Not wishing to cause an international incident, it was the Slovaks who did the 9 glider aerotow. Nine L-13 Blaniks and a Zlin 137t towplane.