By Ann Roosevelt
Raytheon [RTN] said its Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) has successfully demonstrated tracking targets of opportunity in the Salt Lake City air space.
Testing and integration of the system is being conducted at the Utah Test and Training Range, the company said April 14.
The Defense Department has been pursuing the elevated sensor platform for more than a decade. In 1998, Raytheon received a $300 million JLENS contract (Defense Daily, Feb. 3, 1998). That contract built on the defunct aerostat concept demonstration program in which Raytheon, Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] in 1995 were all awarded aerostat demonstration contracts.
On Friday, DoD released Selected Acquisition Reports for the December 2010 reporting period that included JLENS. “The (Program Acquisition Unit Cost) increased 17.9 percent and the (Average Per Unit Cost) increased 13.3 percent to the current APB, because the development program was extended six months due to delays in testing resulting from engineering challenges,” the report said. “The increases in unit costs are also attributable to the addition of preplanned product improvements for reliability, safety, affordability, or producibility of the JLENS systems.” JLENS is included in “Significant Breaches,” of the Nunn McCurdy unit cost breach, meaning a program has unit cost increases of 15 percent, but less than 25 percent to the current acquisition program baseline (APB) or of 30 percent, but less than 50 percent, to the original APB, the SAR report said.
This recent successful test follows a number of program milestones, including the first full-power transmit from the fire control radar (Defense Daily, Feb. 11).
During previous testing at the Raytheon facility in Pelham, N.H., the radar successfully tracked targets of opportunity and ran planned flight tests for position verification, the company said in a statement.
“The JLENS program continues to demonstrate significant system maturity during real-world testing in Utah,” said Dave Gulla, vice president, Global Integrated Sensors at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. “JLENS is a game-changing system for warfighters, providing enhanced situational awareness and surveillance capabilities in the detection and deterrence of cruise missile and unmanned aerial threats.”
JLENS is the first aerostat platform featuring long-duration, wide-area, over-the-horizon detection and tracking of low-altitude cruise missiles and other threats.
Additionally, its capabilities provide the battlefield commander with enhanced situational awareness and elevated communications, enabling sufficient warning to engage air defense systems and defeat threats.
“The JLENS team continues to meet significant program milestones, executing an aggressive test and training schedule,” said Ken Gordon, program director, Raytheon’s JLENS program. “The ongoing testing in Utah affirms our confidence in the system’s technical maturity.”
The fire control radar is one of two advanced, elevated sensor systems deployed on JLENS. The fire control radar performs wide area surveillance and precision tracking across the battlespace. It also provides combat identification and cues weapon systems to intercept threats at maximum ranges from defended assets.
Work on the JLENS program is performed at Raytheon sites located in Massachusetts, California, New Hampshire, Texas and Maryland. Raytheon IDS develops the fire control radar and processing station.Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems develops the surveillance radar. TCOM L.P., based in Maryland, makes the aerostat and associated ground equipment.