Raytheon [RTN] on Tuesday said it has completed preparing an aerostat-based radar system, known as the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), for use as a rapidly deployable strategic asset.
JLENS is a powerful airborne radar system that floats at altitudes as high as 10,000 feet, suspended from two 80-yard long, helium-filled blimp-like aerostats which are tethered to ground stations via a rugged cable. The system is known as an orbit. It can help defend critical assets, population centers and infrastructures against a variety of threats, such as manned- and unmanned- aircraft and missiles.
Photo: Raytheon
The packed system is one of two the Army has bought from Raytheon, and was previously used for testing. The second system is scheduled to participate in an operational evaluation at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. this fall. JLENS completed Early User Testing in the third quarter of 2013, and concluded system design and development in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“One entire orbit is in strategic reserve, which includes both aerostats, the tethers, radars and ground station,” said Michael Nachshen, a spokesman for Raytheon. It will be almost identical to the orbit that is going to Aberdeen. The difference is the second orbit doesn’t have some of the spares and pieces of support equipment the Aberdeen orbit has.
Since the orbit is in strategic reserve, it must be ready for a combatant commander on extremely short notice, Nachshen said. Thus, “the software is continuously updated and the hardware is in climate-controlled storage. Should the second orbit be required, it’s just a matter of packing it up.”
“By putting JLENS in strategic reserve, the Army is giving combatant commanders around the globe the ability to pick up the phone and, in short order, receive this incredible air defense capability in their area of responsibility,” said Raytheon’s Dave Gulla, vice president of Integrated Defense Systems’ Global Integrated Sensors business area.
Since JLENS began development in 2005, it has completed a rigorous testing program that included tracking and targeting airplanes and drones, and helping destroy cruise missile targets by integrating with the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System, Standard Missile 6 and AMRAAM defensive systems. JLENS has also tracked threats such as swarming boats, unmanned aircraft, and detected tactical ballistic missiles in their boost phase.
“JLENS has proven its ability to extend the air-defense umbrella by integrating with our nation’s land-, sea-, and air-based air defenses to detect and intercept threats, such as airplanes, drones and cruise missiles,” said Doug Burgess, Raytheon’s JLENS program director. “The success of this operational evaluation is another significant step forward because it will demonstrate that JLENS has unmatched defensive capabilities. Raytheon is doing its part to get both the Soldiers and the system ready.”