The invention discloses a three-dimensional flight 
path tracking method for an unmanned airship. The three-dimensional flight 
path tracking method comprises the steps of firstly, calculating an error amount by use of a given instruction flight path and an actual flight path, secondly, designing a flight path control law by use of a 
sliding mode control method and then calculating a flight path control quantity; in order to effectively suppress buffeting caused by 
sliding mode control, designing a neural network 
sliding mode control law by taking a sliding mode surface and the change rate as the input variables of a neural network and taking a control 
gain as the output variable of the neural network; adjusting the control 
gain on line by virtue of the self-learning function of the neural network. According to the three-dimensional flight 
path tracking method for the unmanned airship, the 
mathematical model of the space motion of the unmanned airship is established aiming at the flight path tracking problem of the unmanned airship; with the model as a control object, the flight path control law is designed by use of the sliding 
mode control method; in order to suppress buffeting, the neural network sliding 
mode control law is designed by taking the sliding mode surface and the change rate as the input variables of the neural network and taking the control 
gain as the output variable of the neural network, and the control gain is adjusted on line by virtue of the self-learning function of the neural network so as to suppress buffeting, and therefore, the 
system performance is improved.