Lighter Than Air

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Jane's Defence Weekly

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Briefing: Lighter than air

With the development of new technologies and materials aerostats are enjoying a resurgence, proving
to be an inexpensive surveillance solution for military and homeland security applications. Martin
Streetly reports
Ever since the French balloon Entreprenant was used to observe Austrian troop movements during the
Battle of Fleurus in 1794, the aerostat has been in and out of favour with the world's militaries.
However, the vehicle is currently having a resurgence, with aerostats providing base intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) capabilities in the
long-running campaign in Afghanistan as well as playing a long-standing role in homeland defence
applications.
In the United States the most visible aerostat providers are Lockheed Martin and TCOM. Over time
Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training (LM-MST) has produced a family of aerostats that have
borne the designators 56K, 64K, 74K, 275K, 420K and 595K, referring to the particular aerostat's envelope
capacity in thousands of cubic feet.
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Buoyant technology
LM-MST aerostats are direct descendants of the General Electric AN/DPS-5 radar-equipped 'Seek Skyhook'
system that entered service during the mid-1970s. Recent applications include use of the 74K in the US
Army's Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS); the 275K at a single Tethered Aerostat Radar System
(TARS) site (Cudjoe Key in Florida); and the 420K at seven TARS sites across the US's southern border
region.
PTDS is a quick-reaction capability funded by the US Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization
(JIEDDO) and has an aerostat-based architecture that ingests tactical intelligence and sensor-related data,
fuses it into a common operating picture, automatically cross-cues a high-resolution imagery sensor
payload to locations of interest for visual target confirmation and tracking, and then disseminates video
imagery to quick-reaction forces using a secure wireless communications relay facility.
The PTDS system is also understood to include an L-3 Wescam MX-20 EO sensor turret, the Logos
Technologies Kestrel Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance Sensor (WAPSS), the NASA/Western DataCom
Secure Mobile Router (SMR - also known as the Inter-Brigade Communications System), a mobile mooring
platform, a powered tether, a ground-control shelter, a maintenance and 'officer' shelter, power
generators, and site handling equipment. Here the aerostat operates at an altitude of 2,500 ft, from which
the MX-20 sensor has a stand-off range of 15 km. The SMR facilitates the transmission of secure, highspeed voice, video, and data communications, while the PTDS ground-control station is reported to
accommodate five operators; is linked to its aerostat by fibre-optic cable; and is equipped with an SMR
application and Single Channel Ground to Air Radio System (SINCGARS) radios as well as General Atomics'
CLAW integrated sensor payload/analysis software package.
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The PTDS can be cued by a range of external sensor systems with other baseline features including a
day/night and all-weather surveillance capability; detection and classification of threat weapon types; the
generation of high-resolution imagery in support of vehicle/personnel identification and tracking; support
for persistent surveillance requirements; and a sortie duration of about 30 days. Subsequent to its initial
deployment a PTDS variant emerged equipped with the Northrop Grumman AN/ZPY-1 STARLite moving
target indication/synthetic aperture radar system and a pair of MX-20 Lite EO sensors.
The Worldwide Aeros Corporation is understood to have supplied the Republic of Korea Army with an
example of its Aeros 3200 aerostat equipped with Selex ES's Seaspray 7500E active electronically scanned
array (AESA) surveillance radar. The system is designed for ground surveillance and is said to be able to
operate for many weeks at a time without the need for recovery. In 2012 South Dakota-based Aerostar
International met an urgent requirement for a persistent maritime surveillance solution that would
enhance security in the Caribbean Basin. The contractor supplied a turnkey package that included its TIF25K aerostat, a General Dynamics EO/IR camera and a datalink for use aboard the US Navy's High-Speed
Vessel Swift (HSV-2). The service has also trialled a PGSS aerostat aboard the Joint High-Speed Vessel USNS
Spearhead (JHSV-1) during exercises in the Caribbean and off Central America in July 2014.
Airship attitude
Israel has become a major source of military and paramilitary aerostats, with Elta Systems, RT LTA Systems
and Top I Vision all offering aerostat-based surveillance systems.
Elta's work in the field centres on its EL/I-3330 Multi-Payload Aerostat System (MPAS). As such, MPAS
appears to make use of a TCOM-sourced aerostat mated to a payload sub-system - comprising a ground
moving target indicator (GMTI) radar and an EO/IR sensor, with communications and electronic intelligence
(COMINT/ELINT), radio relay, electronic warfare and laser rangefinding systems as options - and an
associated ground exploitation system.
RT LTA Systems offers a range of surveillance aerostats that are designated as Skystar 100, 180, 220, 250
and 300 systems. Skystar vehicles employ circular envelopes - described by some sources as incorporating
an outer skin and a replaceable internal helium lift bladder - that are equipped with a proprietary, windporous stabilising skirt. Payloads are suspended on mountings beneath the envelope and the vehicle tether
secures the aerostat to its launch station, providing a conduit for system power and up/downlink of
communications between its payload and ground station. The Skystar 180 has a diameter of 5.9 m; Skystar
220 6.4 m; Skystar 250 6.9 m, and Skystar 300 7.7 m.
More than 40 Skystar systems are in use globally, with customers including Afghanistan, Canada, Israel (at
least 10 systems are in service along Israel's borders with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank), Mexico,
Russia, Thailand and the US Army, which reportedly has three or four Skystar 180 aerostats for use in
Afghanistan.
In early January 2015 the Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli police had concluded a two-year lease
deal with RT LTA with regard to the provision of Skystar 180 surveillance aerostats and their operating
crews on a by-the-hour usage basis. The report suggested that the Israel Defense Forces had made
extensive use of Skystar systems during Operations 'Brother's Keeper' and 'Protective Edge' during June
and July 2014 respectively. It said the Jerusalem Municipality had leased three such systems to monitor
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and control violent incidents within the city's confines and that Skystar systems were in service with 10
countries spanning five continents.
Top I Vision fields its Tactical Aerostat System (TAS), which makes use of a deployable 9.1 m long aerostat
that has a volume of 36.8 m 3 , can lift a 4 kg payload and has a typical operating altitude of 150 m. As such,
TAS systems are known to have been used to provide surveillance during US President Barack Obama's visit
to Israel in March 2013, Pope Francis' visit in May 2014, and during national events such as Israel's
Independence Day celebrations.
India's Agra-based Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE - a component of the
country's Defence Research and Development Organisation) has developed the Akashdeep ('Light in the
Sky') aerostat, which makes use of a 9.8 m long, 2,000 m 3 volume envelope and is designed to lift a range
of payloads, including day/night EO sensors, COMINT/ELINT collection systems and a surveillance radar.
The proposed radar and ELINT capabilities are said to be of Indian design.
A prototype Akashdeep aerostat is understood to have completed its initial flight trials during December
2010, with the programme billed by some as the precursor to the Nakshatra ('Lunar Mansion') system, the
performance parameters of which include an operating altitude of 16,404 ft and a line-of-sight sensor
range of up to 250 km. There are unconfirmed reports on whether the Indian military has, or intends to,
procure a number of Akashdeep-type aerostats.
Moscow-based RosAeroSystems continues to promote an extensive range of surveillance aerostats that
most recently has included the 110 m 3 volume Irbis, the 450 m 3 Lynx, the 1,200 m 3 Gepard, the 2,670 m 3
Tiger, and the 12,000 m 3 Puma aerostat 'complexes', with the contractor's Puma - also known as the Au-21
- and the 440 m 3 BARS system (Au-17) also being marketed by the French Aero Systems concern.
While RosAeroSystems products seem likely to be used by customers within the Russian Federation, the
only known export customer identified to date is China, which IHS Jane's sources report acquired a Sea
Dragon radar-equipped Puma vehicle to monitor activity along the coast of its southeastern Fujian
province.
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Lockheed Martin's 420K aerostat is at the heart of the United States' TARS system. (Lockheed Martin)
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An annotated illustration of TCOM's model 71M-based KLASS vehicle. (TCOM)

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A display model of the Skystar 100 surveillance aerostat. (IHS/Patrick Allen)

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A general view of a TCOM model 74 JLENS aerostat attached to its mooring system. (TCOM)
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An in-flight view of the Akashdeep surveillance aerostat. (IHS/Patrick Allen)

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Jane's Defence Weekly

Briefing: Lighter than air

[Continued in full version]

For the full version and more content:

IHS Jane's Defence Industry and Markets Intelligence Centre

For advertising solutions contact the IHS Janes Advertising team

An annotated illustration of TCOM's model 71M-based KLASS vehicle. (TCOM)

A display model of the Skystar 100 surveillance aerostat. (IHS/Patrick Allen)

An in-flight view of the Akashdeep surveillance aerostat. (IHS/Patrick Allen)

Copyright IHS Global Limited, 2015

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