Raytheon’s [RTN] missile detection and tracking blimp is set to undergo two key tests later this year with the Army and Navy, a company official recently said.
The unmanned aerostat, known as the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Network Sensor (JLENS), deploys radars for detecting and identifying a hostile cruise missile and supplying fire control data to guide anti-air warfare missiles like the Patriot or Standard Missile 6 (SM-6).
JLENS is set for a live fire test with the Army’s Patriot in April followed later in the year by a second test with Navy and an SM-6, Keith McNamara, Raytheon’s director of business development for global integrated sensors, told reporters last week.
“Those are two important events to validate capability to launch on a remote target and engage on a remote target for an operational representative scenario,” McNamara said.
The system is thought of as a less costly alternative to manned airplanes for carrying out the mission. While two systems have been built, the Pentagon, in its fiscal 2013 budget request released last month, said it was stripping funding to build five more, but is going to continue developing the system.
The Pentagon also wants to deploy a system with a combatant command, possibly Central Command or others, for an operational deployment, McNamara said.
“That is still in the planning stage,” he said. “Those discussions are ongoing within the Department of Defense.”