Ed Herlik is a veteran US Air Force pilot, with 25+ years of military experience and 5500 hours in jet fighters, an Army helicopter, military transports and civilian airliners. He finished his military career with a distinguished record of service in the Air Force’s Space Command working on ‘Near Space’ UAVs.

A member of MENSA, Ed earned an engineering degree from the US Air Force Academy and a master’s degree in National Security Studies from California State University at San Bernardino.  That education allowed him to join the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he’s a member of the Lighter-Than-Air Technical Committee.

Ed is America’s leading expert on Stratospheric UAV survivability or their ability to operate in the face of integrated air defenses. He has lectured in the US and Europe on Stratospheric UAV technology and their commercial markets. He has also consulted with US military offices and defense contractors on the highest altitude aerial platforms, their unique payloads and their capabilities. He’s expert at UAV operating concepts.

Mr. Herlik is a patented inventor and a published author, with 20 years’ experience in civilian industry and public education. He holds three patents: one on a firefighting jet aircraft, one on stress-sensing fasteners like the bolts that hold bridges together plus one issued in November, 2011 on a stratospheric UAV. He has patents pending on a different stratospheric UAV and a hybrid drive-train to replace inefficient engines in existing vehicles.