[Scan-DC] Fwd: [FloridaMilcom] Blimps to bolster DC's air shield i n test

[Blair Thompson]

I'm posting this only to bookmark the original thread at Scan-DC about the aerostats.

---------- Original Message ----------
From: AllanStern at aol.com
To: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Scan-DC] Fwd: [FloridaMilcom] Blimps to bolster DC's air shield in test
Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2013 03:56:28 -0500 (EST)

Blimps to bolster D.C.'s air shield in  test
 
 
 
A pair of big, blimp-like craft, moored to the  ground and flying as high 
as 10,000 feet, are to be added to a high-tech  shield designed to protect 
the Washington, D.C.-area from air attack,  at least for a while. The bulbous, 
helium-filled "aerostats" - each more than  three quarters the length of a 
football field at 243 feet - are to be stitched  into existing defenses as 
part of an exercise of new technology ordered by the  Defense Department. 
The coming addition to the umbrella over Washington is known as  the Joint 
Land Attack  Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS. 
The Raytheon  Co. is the prime contractor.
    "We're trying to determine how the surveillance  radar information from 
the JLENS platforms can be integrated with existing  systems in the 
National Capital Region," said Michael Kucharek, a spokesman for the  North 
American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD, a binational command,  is 
responsible for defending air space over the United States and Canada,  including 
the Washington  area, with its many pieces of important infrastructure.
    
    The most significant air attack in the area took  place on Sept. 11, 
2001, when al-Qaida militants hijacked American Airlines  Flight 77, a Boeing 
757, and crashed it into the Pentagon.
    
    To expand the time available to detect and defend  against any future 
attacks from commercial aircraft, major changes were made  under Operation 
Noble Eagle, combat air patrols begun after the Sept. 11  attacks. Air space 
restrictions were extended. U.S. Army Sentinel radars for  low-altitude radar 
coverage and short-range Stinger/Avenger missile batteries  were deployed.
    
    Washington is currently guarded by an air-defense  system that includes 
FAA radars and Department of Homeland Security  helicopters and fixed-wing 
aircraft on alert at Reagan National Airport to  intercept slow, low-flying 
aircraft.
    
    The JLENS craft are expected to arrive in the  capital area by Sept. 
30, according to Kucharek, who is also a spokesman for  the U.S. Northern 
Command (NORTHCOM), which coordinates the Pentagon's homeland  defense role.
    
    A "capabilities demonstration," as the test is  called, is expected to 
last as long as three years. Its location is being  withheld, pending 
notification of lawmakers and others.
    
    JLENS craft work in a roughly $450 million pair,  known as an orbit, 
each tethered to mobile moorings. One of the aerostats  carries a powerful 
long-range surveillance radar with a 360-degree look-around  capability that 
can reach out to 340 miles. The other carries a radar used for  targeting.  
Operating as high as 10,000 feet for up to 30 days at a time,  JLENS is meant 
to give the military more time to detect and react to threats,  including 
cruise missiles and manned and unmanned aircraft, compared with  ground-based 
radar. The system is also designed to defend against tactical  ballistic 
missiles, large caliber rockets and moving vehicles that could be  used for 
attacks, including boats, cars and trucks.
    
    A success in the U.S. capital area could give a  boost to the JLENS 
program, which has been scaled back sharply along with the  Pentagon's other 15 
or so lighter-than-air vehicle efforts.
    
    Blimp-like craft offer several advantages  compared with fixed-wing 
aircraft, including lower cost, larger payload  capacity and extended time 
aloft. However, their funding is to fall sharply as  Pentagon spending shrinks 
to help pare trillion-dollar-a-year U.S.  deficits.
    
    Peter Huessy, a consultant on nuclear deterrence  and missile defense, 
said the system would compliment current U.S.  missile-defense capabilities.
 

 
AL  STERN Satellite Beach  FL
AllanStern at aol.com
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