Airship firm ATG is to spread its wings to Germany in a bid to pocket foreign government funding.

Cardington-based ATG – Advanced Technologies Group – is to set up an office in the land of the Zeppelins to push efforts to sell its blimps.

And company director Gordon Taylor hopes the firm could also benefit from more generous financial help available there after "derisory" backing from Whitehall.

He said: "We are starting to sell our products into Germany and so we will need a product support base.

"The Germans are more airship-orientated and are quite keen to help us. We have only had a couple of grants worth £500,000 over eight years which, although we are of course grateful for them, are nothing compared to the huge amounts they hand out to BAe.

"I would emphasise though it's the fault of the system rather than the Government. You have to be of BAe's size before they will look at you."
ATG will have an office staffed initially by ten employees at Cottbus, 60kms south of Berlin.

Mr Taylor said it would support sales of its AT-10 airship in Germany, which should receive its certification later this month after a series of air trials.

The $3 million craft will then be shipped out to Shanghai, China, as an eye in the sky for traffic monitoring duties.

Stressing ATG had no immediate plans to leave its base in one of the historic Cardington hangars, Mr Taylor said there was a chance more help could be coming from the UK Government.

He said: "Four months ago I was depressed because we had made an application and ended up with a derisory amount.

"We came up with £16 million ourselves and they came up with £700,000 of Government support, which wasn't what they had been talking about to start with.

"But they are reviewing something for us, and I am hopeful of something happening."