U.S. Army’s Raytheon built JLENS aerostat based radar surveillance system have been lofted high above rural Maryland for the first time, to ...
Short for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, JLENS provides 360-degrees of defensive radar coverage and can detect and track objects like low flying cruise missiles, and manned and unmanned aircraft from up to 340 miles away, continously for a 30-day period. It can also provide ascent phase detection of tactical ballistic missiles and large-caliber rockets.
JLENS, consists of two helium-filled aerostats, or tethered blimps, that float 10,000 feet above the ground and carry powerful radars located in the blister underneath the balloon.
"JLENS can detect potential threats at extremely long ranges, giving North American Aerospace Defense Command more time to make decisions and more space to react appropriately."
As part of the deployment, Raytheon engineers raised one of the 242 feet aerostats thousands of feet in the air and conducted a series of tests to ensure it was operating as designed. The first JLENS balloon will be delivered to U.S. Army's A Battery, 3rd Air Defense Artillery after some further tests.
The second aerostat is scheduled to go aloft in early 2015. Following a series of additional tests, it will also be turned over to the soldiers, who will conduct an operational exercise with JLENS.
During the exercise, information from JLENS will be used by NORAD, the U.S.-Canadian organization charged with aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America. The 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, which is responsible for defending the airspace over the National Capital Region, will also use information from JLENS.
Another JLENS system is in strategic reserve, and is available to be deployed anywhere around the world on request of commanders.
The system completed developmental testing in December, 2013 after it proved capability to detect and track short-range ballistic missiles in their boost phase during a series tests. It can be integrated with defensive systems and help Patriot, AMRAAM, NASAMS and Standard Missile 6 to intercept cruise missile targets.
Major advantages of JLENS include its low cost compared to a fixed wing surveillance aircraft (AWACS, JSTARS or E-2C) and ability to detect low flying threats, which is hard for a ground-based radar.
Depending on the surveillance aircraft used currently, Raytheon estimates, JLENS is 500-700% cheaper to operate for the same time period because of manpower, maintenance and fuel costs.
