U.S. Army Balloon Defense System, Coming to a City Near You?
Over the past twenty years, the Russian Air Force has been working on improving their long-range cruise missile attack capability. Cruise missiles are small, jet powered missiles capable of carrying either a conventional or nuclear warhead, capable of traveling over 500 miles per hour over a distance of 1,500 miles. Cruise missiles spend the majority of their mission in level flight following a preprogrammed path, and can “terrain mask” by flying at low altitudes behind mountain features, thus staying well below air defense radar. Further, their small size makes them difficult to detect using radar systems, even in the best of circumstances.
Consequently, low flying cruise missiles place a huge strain on air defense systems. And with multiple missiles attacking simultaneously from different directions, an air defense system can be quickly overwhelmed.
How can NORAD solve this problem? By placing radars 2 miles in the sky! Recently, the US Army deployed a new system entitled the “Joint LACMD Elevated Netted Sensor” or JLENS at the Aberdeen Proving Ground located north of Baltimore, Maryland. Under development by the Raytheon Corporation, this new system employs two 74-meter long balloons (called “tethered aerostats,” versus being called “blimps” which are free-flying), floating up to 10,000 feet in the sky, and uses on-board surveillance radars to locate enemy missiles or aircraft targets approaching “beyond-the-horizon”.
Placing these balloons high above Baltimore, JLENS will be able to observe over mountainous terrain and thus extend NORAD’s radar detection distance. By elevating a radar site 2 miles into the sky, JLENS provides air defense commanders the ability to extend their surveillance over a much greater distance, and are no longer blocked by mountainous terrain or the Earth’s curvature.
JLEN’s radar scans the skies 360-degrees, out to a distance of 340 miles. Thus, floating at 10,000 feet, enemy missiles approaching at only 100 feet altitude could potentially be detected at 130 miles, thus providing NORAD air defense commanders significantly longer time to position their air defense forces and engage the approaching target.
JLENS is designed to remain aloft for 30 days at a time, after which time the balloons are lowered to have their helium topped off, as well as to perform any routine maintenance actions necessary on their radar and communication systems. Providing the same sustained 24/7 radar surveillance would require numerous fixed-wing airborne surveillance aircraft, such as the USAF’s E-3 AWACS.
JLENS is expended to be quite survivable. Under testing, when punctured the JLENS balloon deflates slowly, undergoing a controlled collapse. Aerostats operate at a low internal pressure, generally less than 0.1 psi over the surrounding atmospheric pressure. Consequently, helium will not escape from the envelope even when small holes develop in it. During testing, JLENS balloons were purposely shot using missiles to test their resilience, and it was determined they did not suffer any major damage. The balloons did not explode, but only gradually lost their non-flammable helium and deflated.
JLENS aerostats are tethered to the ground using rugged steel cables made of Vectran, which is five time stronger than steel and ten times stronger than aluminum. During tests, these cables have withstood winds in excess of 100 knots. However, before such stress was placed on these cables, the JLENS balloons would be returned to earth and safely stored.
Regarding privacy concerns, the entire United States is currently under continuous radar surveillance by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) radars, allowing them to detect, track and control thousands of commercial aviation flights transiting the United States every day. The American public has no concerns regarding this routine radar surveillance, and expects it to ensure the safety of the flying population. For the same reasons, deploying JLENS balloons around the United States should not alarm the American public. These are not “spy blimps” listening into cell phone conversations or carrying cameras to photograph the public. They are elevated radar stations, much like ground-based FAA radar sites, providing an extra level of air defense for the nation if national policy makers become concerned an adversary might be considering taking advantage of the nation’s LACM defense vulnerability.
In conclusion, the Department of Defense (DOD) is convinced JLENS provides an effective, timely and affordable air defense solution to an evolving cruise missile threat. JLENS is shown to be persistent, survivable, inter-operable, and cost-effective. Concerns regarding weather vulnerability, cables breakage, and public privacy concerns have apparently been answered satisfactorily to Congress.
Update: Check out Homeland Security Today’s in-depth article on JLENS for more information and perspective: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/kmd/hst_201402/#/32
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