The project will be managed by the Naval Air Systems Command (Navair). Navair recently contracted with CYDF and has been flight-testing the SA-60 spherical airship to evaluate its potential to satisfy future military and defense requirements. The SA-60 is a prototype developed by TSI.

CYDF has an exclusive marketing agreement with TSI for all of their products. The Prime contractor, SNC, through an exclusive partnership agreement, will provide technology, payload, and sensor integration for the ongoing project.

According to published reports, Navair's purpose in conducting the demonstrations was to evaluate the performance characteristics of the SA-60 spherical airship, and provide quantitative analysis to the Navy and other Services for consideration on a variety of future missions.

"The main thing Navair is interested in is economical, persistent surveillance...an airship provides that better than any other vehicle. Airships can operate at 25-30 percent the cost of comparable rotary wing or fixed wing aircraft."

According to Techsphere President Mike Lawson, TSI, CYDF and SNC's joint marketing and lobbing efforts have helped create an awareness of the benefits of airships uses in a number of surveillance and communication capacities.

The companies are moving forward with plans to build an unmanned operational version that will be able to reach and maintain an altitude of 20,000 feet, and fly for up to two days. Delivery is planned in late spring.

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