airship manufacturer industry aerospace aviation defense and advanced technologies founded 1987 1 founder igor pasternak chairman president & ceo headquarters montebello california usa area served worldwide key people igor pasternak products aeroscraft sky dragon airship tactical aerostats early warning system divisions aeroscraft corporation north american defense advanced technology solutions nadats slogan innovation never stops website http www.aeroscraft.com this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message worldwide aeros corp is an american manufacturer of airships based in montebello california . it was founded in 1992 by the current ceo and chief engineer igor pasternak who came to america from ukraine . it currently employs more than 100 workers . the company s current products are non rigids aimed at both the military and commercial markets including transport surveillance broadcasting and advertising . the company s best selling ship is called the sky dragon . 2 worldwide aeros corp. is also developing what it calls the aeroscraft a rigid airship with a number of innovative features the most important of which is a method of controlling the airship s static lift which can be reduced by pumping helium from the internal gasbags and storing it under pressure conversely lift can be increased by reinflating the gasbags using the stored gas . 3 the company has received 60 million from the u.s. department of defense to develop the concept 4 resulting in a prototype named dragon dream which underwent systems tests and some tethered flights in late 2013 . this prototype was subsequently damaged when part of the roof of the hangar at the former marine corps air station in tustin in which it was constructed collapsed on 7 october 2013 . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 corporate timeline 2 aeroscraft 2.1 project pelican and dragon dream 2.2 planned full scale craft 2.3 capabilities 2.3.1 vertical takeoff and landing vtol 2.3.2 oversized cargo bay 2.4 design 2.5 technology 2.5.1 control of static heaviness cosh 2.5.2 ceiling suspension cargo deployment system 2.5.3 rigid structure 2.5.4 landing system 2.5.5 vectored thrust engines 2.5.5.1 low speed control lsc 3 fleet 4 airships 5 nadats north american defense advanced technology solutions 5.1 elevated early warning systems 5.2 sky dragon airship surveillance system 5.3 multi payload tethered aerostats 5.4 tactical towers 5.5 tactical aerostat 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit igor pasternak founded a design bureau in ukraine in 1981 at the lviv polytechnic university . the private company aeros was created in 1986 as a result of soviet reforms and started producing moored balloons . it moved to the usa in 1992 . after the september 11th terrorist attacks the company shifted its focus from advertising to surveillance as its large ships can hold 1 000 pounds of radar surveillance equipment . the blimps have such varied uses as monitoring oil pipelines in mexico to performing surveillance for the ukrainian government along the russian border . 2 in 2005 aeros was granted the largest contract under darpa s project walrus hula . project walrus was not renewed in 2010 . 6 however the pentagon continued to fund aeros through the rapid reaction technology office contracting with them in 2010 to build a prototype that could demonstrate key technologies . 7 this prototype became known as the pelican . the pentagon has provided 50 million in funding for the development of the pelican prototype . 8 corporate timeline edit 1981 igor pasternak establishes a volunteer airship design bureau at lviv polytechnic university in ukraine . 1986 aeros becomes one of the first private aerospace and engineering companies permitted under gorbachev s perestroika reforms . 1987 aeros launches a production line of tethered aerostats and begins worldwide deliveries . 1989 aeros begins the research and development on heavy lift airship concept . 1991 aeros begins its expansion and opens its first international office in sofia bulgaria . 1994 aeros relocates to the united states to pursue its dream to advance lighter than air technologies . 1995 aeros develops its first airship the aeros 50 that marks start of the aeros airship excellence . 1997 aeros develops the aeros 25m tethered aerostat system for the u.s. department of defense . 1999 aeros launches airship model aeros 40a . 2000 aeros develops the 40b sky dragon airship equipped with a fly by wire system and receives an unrestricted type certification to fly worldwide over populated areas . 2001 aeros 40b is delivered to germany . aeros 18m was produced for the canadian market . 2003 aeros receives the contract award from the u.s. department of defense for the development of a high altitude airship . 2004 aeros delivers the 1170 tethered aerostat for the u.s. military . for the first time aeros creates a new type of rigid variable buoyancy air vehicle called the aeroscraft . 2005 the pentagon s defense advanced research projects agency darpa contracts aeros to develop a buoyancy assisted strategic airlifter . 2006 for the first time ever aeros demonstrates a new technology that allows buoyant vehicles to operate without ballast . 2007 aeros develops a new 40d sky dragon airship that receives a faa type certificate . 2008 the united states federal aviation administration recognizes aeros product quality and awards a production certificate . for the 1st time in aviation history aeros successfully demonstrates the ability to control buoyancy in flight . 2009 aeros successfully demonstrates the rigid aero structure that allows buoyancy assisted air vehicles to have greater military utility . aeros begins construction of the aeroscraft . 2010 aeros developes a new advanced surveillance tethered aerostat system in support of the republic of korea armed forces . aeros puts its focus on the technology development for the wind energy industry to achieve 10mw power output . 2011 aeros continues integration of the aeroscraft . 2012 aeros deliveres on time and under budget on a 35 million contract with the dod and darpa proving all of the technologies and capabilities of the aeroscraft . 2013 the dragon dream had its first float on january 3 . the pentagon declared the tests were a success . on july 4 the dragon dream rolled out of the hangar for the first time and on september 11 the first flight of the dragon dream occurred . 2014 aeros launches 40d sky dragon s n 22 into service following congressional christening ceremony ; completes design freeze for ml 866 66 ton aeroscraft initiates production of new 40e sky dragon airship ; develops and deploys a new tactical aerostat design . 2015 aeros receives patent from uspto for cosh buoyancy management system ; launches the north american defense advanced technology solutions nadats division readies launch of advanced 40e sky dragon airship and continues production on the world s first cargo airship the aeroscraft . 9 aeroscraft edit dragon dream outside tustin hangar the aeroscraft is a heavy lift variable buoyancy cargo airship featuring an onboard buoyancy management system rigid structure vertical takeoff and landing performance and operational abilities at low speed in hover and from unprepared surfaces . worldwide aeros corp. is also developing what it calls the aeroscraft a rigid airship with a number of innovative features the most important of which is a method of controlling the airship s static lift which can be reduced by pumping helium from the internal gasbags and storing it under pressure conversely lift can be increased by reinflating the gasbags using the stored gas . 10 this prototype was subsequently damaged when part of the roof of the hangar at the former marine corps air station in tustin in which it was constructed collapsed on 7 october 2013 . 11 project pelican and dragon dream edit half scale prototype dragon dream project pelican was a us government funded project to build and test a half scale prototype of the proposed full size aeroscraft using representative structure and avionics . 12 named dragon dream and having a length of 266 feet 81 m and design speed of 60 knots 110 km h it does not carry a payload . 13 the company received 60 million from the u.s. department of defense to develop the concept 14 resulting in a prototype named dragon dream which underwent systems tests and some tethered flights in late 2013 . the flight of the dragon dream . with funding from the u.s. department of defense the first floating took place on january 3 2013 at tustin california where it hovered indoors at a height of 12 feet for several minutes . 15 the pentagon has declared that the tests of the pelican were a success with the craft meeting its demonstration objectives . 16 the pelican was rolled out of its hangar on july 4 2013 . 17 18 the company sued the navy for 65 million in 2015 after the hangar structure fell on the aircraft . 19 planned full scale craft edit the company is beginning production of two examples an ml866 and an ml868 model . 20 a model capable of lifting 500 tons the ml86x is also proposed . 13 the ml866 model will be 555 feet 169 m in length have a payload capacity of 66 tons a top speed of 120 knots 222 km h a range of 3 100 nmi 5 700 km and an altitude ceiling of 12 000 ft 3 700 m . the larger ml868 model will be 770 feet 230 m in length and carry 250 tons with the same speed and altitude ceiling as the ml866 . 13 the company ultimately plans to build a ml86x with a length of 920 feet a height of 215 feet and a width of 355 feet with the capacity to carry 500 tons . 2 aeros is currently seeking 3 billion to fund the construction of 24 aeroscraft vehicles including the 250 ton capacity ml868 model . 21 the ceo has stated that he aims to have a global fleet operating by 2023 . 2 capabilities edit vertical takeoff and landing vtol edit another way to understand the aeroscraft s vtol capability is to compare the aeroscraft to a submarine . for example when a submarine needs to dive into the water it takes on water to make it heavier . when the submarine needs to surface it releases that water to become lighter . similarly the aeroscraft can control its weight by releasing and taking on air controlling the heaviness or lightness of the vehicle . one obstacle that conventional and hybrid airships face is their inability to control buoyancy without venting helium . another operational challenge faced by airships and hybrid airships is the inability to control or adjust static lift during operations . traditional airships requirement for external ballast exchange and existing ground infrastructure has significantly limited their cargo utility . once the cargo is off loaded traditional helium dependent airships become extremely light and this static lift causes them to float away . to combat these forces they require external ballast exchange using rocks ice water or lead bags to keep the airship anchored to the ground . because the aeroscraft is equipped with vtol capability it can deliver cargo directly from point of origin to point of need . furthermore other hybrid airships are runway dependent at higher operating weights but the aeroscraft does not need a runway even at full payload . because of its cosh technology its computer controlled virtually automated directional thrust and station keeping technology facilitates off and on loading stores while in hover . 22 oversized cargo bay edit the cargo bay is located at the bottom of the aircraft cavity and is loaded by using a pulley system to load the cargo from the ground . at 1.8 million cubic feet the cargo bay of