Abstract: Autonomous airship fleet operation includes receiving a mission request. A fleet manager in response to receipt of a mission request, plans a mission having a corresponding mission path and corresponding mission tasks based on a vehicle occupancy map. The fleet manager selects one or more candidate vehicles for the mission based on a correlation of at least one vehicle capability to a capability requirement determined from the mission request. The fleet manager further coordinates operation of the selected vehicles for a duration of the mission request, thereby fulfilling the at least one mission objective of the mission request.