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U.S. Army Displays JLens Aerostat for East Coast Coverage

by Bill Carey

 - December 18, 2014, 12:41 PM

Lt. Col. William Pitts stands in front of the JLens aerostat at Aberdeen Proving Ground. (Photo: Bill Carey)

The U.S. Army displayed the first aerostat of the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLens) system it plans to position over the mid-Atlantic region for a three-year evaluation of its potential for tracking airborne threats. The Army invited reporters to view the inflated aerostat on December 17, and planned to launch it within days from Aberdeen Proving Ground north of Baltimore.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) will evaluate the Raytheon system’s contribution to radar and aerial surveillance of its Eastern Air Defense Sector, which is managed from Rome, N.Y. A JLens system, or “orbit,” consists of two helium-filled, tethered aerostats: one carrying a 360-degree VHF surveillance radar, the other an X-band fire-control radar, with supporting control and data-processing stations. Once the surveillance radar detects an airborne threat, ground operators slew the fire-control aerostat to the area to provide precise targeting information for aircraft-launched munitions, ground-based air defense systems or possibly an Aegis cruiser or destroyer. The aerostats will fly as high as 10,000 feet above sea level for 30 days at a time, coming down only for maintenance or in the event of severe weather.

Army officers said the system’s primary focus is to defend against cruise missiles by providing “persistent” wide-area surveillance coverage. The alternative is to deploy manned E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control (Awacs) or E-2 Hawkeye early-warning aircraft. “If you look at other platforms that we have to replace JLens, you’re looking at very expensive platforms,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn Bramhall, commander of the 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command. “So [for] persistence, as far as we look at it, 30 days [of JLens deployment] is so much better and cheaper than flying Awacs.”

Bramhall said a key test objective will be to integrate data from JLens with the existing Norad air defense system, which will conduct exercises during the system’s evaluation. In 2012, Raytheon demonstrated JLens interoperability with the Patriot anti-missile system to detect, track and shoot down a target drone simulating a cruise missile at the Utah Training and Test Range west of Salt Lake City. The Army used JLensto track multiple speed boats conducting maneuvers on Great Salt Lake. Budget cuts have reduced the program from the original 16 planned orbits to two engineering and development systems.

HAV Delays Hybrid Airship Flight; Selex To Study Sensors

by Chris Pocock

 - December 17, 2014, 3:32 PM

The Airlander 10 is not expected to fly again until next year, according to Hybrid Air Vehicles.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) has postponed the return to flight of its revolutionary Airlander 10. The huge buoyant-lift machine, which flew just once in the U.S. as the Long Endurance Multi-Purpose Vehicle (LEMV), will not be airborne again until “the end of next year,” according to the company. However, HAV has made progress in exploring new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications, signing a new collaboration with sensor provider Selex ES.

After the LEMV was shipped to the UK in late 2013, HAV predicted new test flights beginning early next year. But although the small company has attracted new funding from equity investors and a UK government technology fund, it evidently underestimated the task of returning the 304-foot-long, 1.34-million-cu-ft vehicle to the air. HAVis planning a 200-hour flight-test program leading to certification of the Airlander 10 under UK CAA Section B regulations, and/or EASA regulations still under development. HAV has only 40 employees, but holds 21 patents for what it describes as a “disruptive technology.”

According to HAV’s latest study, the potential market for buoyant-lift vehicles over the next 20 years could be worth $50 billion. Applications include outsize cargo lift into remote locations; sensitive airborne geosurveys; andISR. It believes that the remote access market will be best served by a scaled-up hybrid air vehicle named Airlander 50, 390 feet long with an envelope volume of 3.64 million cu ft.

A spokesman for Selex ES told AIN that the European sensor house has agreed to work with HAV in developing an ISR payload for the Airlander 10, which has a payload bay volume of up to 2,750 cu ft. Before the U.S. Army aborted the LEMV project , prime contractor Northrop Grumman is believed to have tested a combination of its very high-resolution vehicle dismount and exploitation radar with an EO/IR and a sigint sensor but only on the ground in a system integration laboratory. An HAV source told AIN that Selex ES could provide similar multi-sensor capability, including a 360-degree-view EO/IR system.

HAV is trying to persuade the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to fund a two-month flying trial to explore potential military applications. The MoD has asked QinetiQ to study whether a concept capability demonstration would be worthwhile.