The SKYBUS 30K Airship Unmanned Aerial System "was recently granted a Federal Aviation Administration U.S. Experimental Airworthiness Certificate for Unmanned Airships," SAIC said in a statement.

SAIC said it had functioned as lead system integrator for the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command and that it had teamed up with Telford Aviation Services of Bangor, Maine, "to develop and test the prototype at the Loring Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Center in Limestone, Maine."

"The prototype SKYBUS 30K, with its 30,000 cubic-foot volume, is the initial testing and demonstration platform for a series of large airships," SAIC said. "The SKYBUS 30K has a 300 pound payload and can serve as a platform to carry sensors used for a variety of security and intelligence operations including border patrol, port security, survivor search, wildlife management and sports event monitoring."

SAIC said SKYBUS's airframe was "resilient to damage and includes a Lighter Than Air Unmanned Aerial System (LTA-UAS); ground control station for mission planning, flight monitoring, and in-flight profile amendment; and a mobile mooring system that allows the SKYBUS 30K to launch from confined or unimproved sites."

"The SKYBUS can loiter for 30 to 40 hours, can travel up to 35 knots, and has faint visual, radar, infrared, and acoustic signatures," it said.

SAIC said the SKBUS project was also developed with Aerospace Innovations, responsible for Lighter Than Air, or LTA, systems control; DRS-Unmanned Technologies, responsible for vehicle flight controls; Lindstrand USA, responsible for the vehicle primary envelop and flight structure; and Loring Development Activity, which functioned as the program's flight test facility.