Adam Schiff >>Igor Pasternak
In 1981, Igor Pasternak founded a design bureau at Lviv Polytechnic University. He started a private company in 1986 producing tethered balloons for advertising. It moved to the United States in 1994
After 9/11, 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.
In 2005, Aeros was granted the largest contract under DARPA's project Walrus HULA. Project Walrus was not renewed in 2010.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.
The Pentagon has provided $50 million in funding for the development of the "Pelican" prototype.