The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Lockheed Martin to guide an industry team to design, build, test and fly a 1:3 scaled model of an airship for the third phase of the ISIS (Integrated Sensor Is Structure) program, enhancing the new low-power density radar built by Raytheon Company — the contract is worth about $400 million.

The autonomous system will operate for 90 days supplying crucial information for the realization of the actual prototype. The ISIS program aims to replace several air surveillance platforms such as the Boeing E-3 Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS) and E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) with a single fleet of airships. The ISIS will find and track air and ground targets directly communicating with the battlefield using a single antenna for as long as 10 years. "The development of high energy density power systems, an extremely lightweight radar solution and an advanced flexible composite material were necessary to make a stratospheric airship like ISIS possible," Eric Hofstatter, Lockheed Martin ISIS program manager, said. "This is an extremely advanced machine that represents a dramatically different approach to persistent real-time intelligence gathering and to the overarching utility of airships".