In this paper, nonlinear sliding mode controller is used in coordination with lookahead-based steering guidance law to simulate the autonomous maneuvering capabilities of a nonlinear, coupled, six degrees of freedom stratospheric airship model. The closed-loop simulation results are presented which signify the robustness of the sliding mode based controller in achieving the commanded maneuver in the presence of modeled uncertainties and wind disturbances. © 2018 IEEE.