US Military Testing High-Tech Dirigibles In Utah

'Aerostats' Meant To Detect Cruise Missiles

By MIKE STARK
Source: AP News
Apr 15, 2010 04:42 EDT
Courtesy Of Anti-War News

The skies over the Utah desert are becoming the test site for a new fleet of hulking high-tech dirigibles the U.S. military is hoping will provide battlefield commanders a bird's-eye view of cruise missiles and other threats.

One of the unmanned balloons — a 242-foot-long craft known as an aerostat — was launched Wednesday morning about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. It stayed aloft for about three hours before it was pulled back down as planned.

It was the first several tests expected in the coming year or so in Utah, according to Paula Nicholson, a spokeswoman for Dugway Proving Ground. The next flights could be made later this week.

Vast tracts of military-owned desert were chosen for the testing because of their remoteness and resemblance to the mountainous, arid environment of Afghanistan, the military said in a statement.

The dirigibles are outfitted with radar and communications systems to provide long-range surveillance targeting threats from aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles.

Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Co. was awarded a $1.4 billion contract from the Army in 2007 to design, build and test the aerostats.

Several more tests are proposed for Utah later in the year, including over the remote northern portion of the Great Salt Lake and parts of the Snake Valley.

The aerostats were first flight-tested in Elizabeth City, N.C., last summer but were limited to a height of 3,000 feet. In Utah, the dirigibles are expected to fly some 10,000 feet above the U.S. Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range, where air space is restricted up to 58,000 feet, the military said. The dirigibles are tethered to processing stations on the ground, and each is capable of staying aloft for a month.

They don't need an airstrip to launch and could even be tethered to ships at sea.

Officials said the aerostats will be less expensive to maintain and operate than conventional aircraft-based radar while providing battlefield commanders a bird's-eye view of threats in a given area.

"Not only will it expand the view well over the horizon, but do so at the least cost to the taxpayer. This is a critically needed capability as we continue to prosecute the global war on terrorism," Col. William E. King IV, Dugway's commander, said in a statement.

The program is known formally as the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS.

Source: AP News

Iran Sets Up Command To Guard Nuclear Sites

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:30:06 GMT Courtesy Of Press TV

Iran's surface-to-air Rapier SAM missile Iran is working to home in on its military anti-aircraft command, amid threats of an Israeli air strike on the country's nuclear sites. Air Force Chief Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani said Saturday that the Iranian military has been ordered by the country's Commander-in-Chief Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to set up a new Anti-Aircraft Command. The command will deal with anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense which entails engaging hostile military aircraft in defense of ground objectives, and is also used to prevent unauthorized aircraft from entering the country's airspace. The move will bring all anti-aircraft systems belonging to the military and the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) including radar equipment, surveillance and intelligence gathering devices, long-, mid- and short-range missiles and defense systems under the newly-established command. The Iranian commander added that the move "aims to enhance and expand combat capabilities of the country's air defense unit." "To counter the enemy's advanced military equipment, we [Iran] should be equipped with state-of-the-art air defense technology," explained Brig. Gen. Miqani, adding that Iran is working its way to assembling the required anti-aircraft artillery. The new structural arrangements in the Iranian military comes as the newly-appointed head of US intelligence predicted that Israel and Iran would engage in a major military confrontation before the end of the year. In a report to the Senate Intelligence Committee on the potential threats as foreseen by the 16 intelligence agencies in the United States, Dennis Blair said Tel Aviv would eventually declare war on Tehran as a last-ditch effort to curb Iran's enrichment capabilities. The prediction by the US intelligence official came in line with remarks in a Friday interview by former Israeli UN ambassador Dan Gillerman revealing that Israel is preparing a military offensive against Iran. "Israel has both the responsibility to defend itself and the capacity to defend itself, and I am sure that when the time comes and all other options have been exhausted, Israel will act in the only way it must to protect its people," said Gillerman. Iran's Defense Ministry announced earlier on Wednesday that it had built a long-range anti-aircraft system capable of simultaneously striking multiple enemy targets. "This long-range anti-aircraft system can identify and track multiple targets and is capable of simultaneously destroying them from a long distance," Brigadier General Mohammad-Najjar said at the Islamic Revolution's military achievements exhibition. The newly-built Iranian missile, which calls to mind the controversial Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system, is believed to have been built in order to shield Iran's nuclear facilities from an Israeli go-it-alone air strike. CS/HGH

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