Progress in Aerostats Situation Awareness

Swarming boats operating in highly-trafficked strategic waterways will soon be easier to detect, target and engage. During a recent test, a Raytheon Company JLENS simultaneously detected and tracked double-digit swarming boats, hundreds of cars and trucks, non-swarming boats and manned and unmanned aircraft.

JLENS, an elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system, uses a powerful integrated radar system to detect, track and target a variety of threats. This capability better enables commanders to defend against threats, including hostile cruise missiles, low-flying manned and unmanned aircraft, and moving surface vehicles such as boats, automobiles and trucks; and provide ascent phase detection of tactical ballistic missiles and large caliber rockets.

“JLENS’ 360-degree long-range surveillance capability expands the battlepsace because JLENS can simultaneously detect and engage threats like swarming boats and anti-ship cruise missiles from up to 340 miles away,” said Dean Barten, the U.S. Army’s JLENS program manager.

About JLENS

• A JLENS system, referred to as an orbit, consists of two tethered, 74-meter aerostats connected to mobile mooring stations and a communications and processing group.
• The aerostats fly as high as 10,000 feet and can remain aloft and operational for up to 30 days.
• One aerostat carries surveillance radar with 360-degree surveillance capability; the other aerostat carries a fire control radar.
• According to research conducted by the U.S. Army’s JLENS Product office, the cost of operating large, fixed-wing surveillance aircraft is 5-7 times greater than the cost of operating JLENS.
• The JLENS surveillance radar can simultaneously track hundreds of threats; the fire control radar can simultaneously target dozens of threats.

Source : Raytheon Corporation