"Can todays unmanned blimps do the same thing as a Strat. for a fraction of the cost?"
Yes and no.
5000 feet and below, conventional blimps are the low-risk way to go. Manned or unmanned, they are still cheaper to operate on a per hour basis than UAV's capable of the carrying the same high quality sensors. Hard to imagine a new ship beating thes guys on their own turf, unless it is very, very simple.
You start getting higher than that and winds impede the ability for LTA of any size to reliably station keep....until you get to ~60kft where the winds diminish.
Stratospheric altitudes offer superior coverage and line of sight comm capability...it is the holy grail of persistant surveillance/dwell capability, and potential gold mine for the first company that delivers.
Again - strat balloons have offered heavy lift (measured in tons) to strat altitudes for 50+ years...still a potentially viable competitor in this arena. They are cheap, expendable, and well understood...which may explain the steerable parachute mission equipment return system featured on the new website.
SkyVision
