Built by Raytheon:
JLENS provides 360-degrees of defensive radar coverage and can detect and track objects like missiles, and manned and unmanned aircraft from up to 340 miles away. JLENS can also remain aloft and operational for up to 30 days at a time. This potent combination of persistence and capability give defenders more time and more distance to:
Identify potential threats
Make critical decisions
Conduct crucial notifications
JLENS allows the military to safeguard hundreds of miles of territory at a fraction of the cost of fixed wing aircraft, and it can integrate with defensive systems including:Patriot
Standard Missile 6
Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile
National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System
One JLENS system, known as an orbit, can provide the same 24/7 coverage for a 30-day period that 4-5 fixed wing surveillance aircraft (AWACS, JSTARS or E-2C) can provide.Depending on the kind of aircraft used, a fixed-wing surveillance aircraft is 500-700% more expensive to operate than a JLENS during that same time period because of manpower, maintenance and fuel costs.
A JLENS orbit uses less than 50% of the manpower it requires to fly a fixed wing aircraft.
Highly technical defensive surveillance blimp, one of many owned by the Department of Defense has broken from its tether at Aberdeen Proving Ground and is floating in Pennsylvania.
This blimp has a value of $1.8 billion, is one of many across the country where each covers a range the size of Texas, and the blimp itself is the size of a football field filled with helium.
6800 feet of cable is being dragged causing power outages in at least 28 areas.
FNC: A JLENS blimp that has been tethered at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland has broken free Wednesday and is being tracked by two fighter jets traveling over Pennsylvania at 16,000 feet, a NORAD spokesman said.
There are unconfirmed reports that the aircraft landed in Bloomsburg, Pa., but Fox News could not immediately confirm.
JLENS is short for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor. The craft looks like a blimp, but the tether technically means it is an aerostat. The craft is the size of a football field and cost about $180 million each.
The Baltimore Sun reported that the helium-filled blimp detached at about 11:54 a.m. and was pulling about 6,700 feet of cable. The paper reported that the military is working with the FAA to maintain air safety. The Air Force said two F-16 fighter jets from Atlantic City are monitoring the blimp.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s office issued a statement saying it is aware of the situation and has been in contact with various departments and the state’s emergency management agency.
“We are closely monitoring the situation, and we will work with the appropriate authorities to respond to any resource requests and assist in any way possible,” the statement read.
The system featured two, unmanned aerostats, tethered to concrete pads 4 miles apart. They were intended to float at an altitude of about 10,000 feet, about one-third as high as a commercial airliner’s cruising altitude.
One balloon was designed to continuously scan in a circle from upstate New York to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and as far west as central Ohio.
The other was meant to carry precision radar to help the military on the ground to pinpoint targets. The craft can stay in the air for up to a month at a time and has a high-definition 360-degree radar capable of monitoring 340 miles in any direction.
A storm near the JLENS program’s test facility Elizabeth City, N.C., in 2010 caused a civilian balloon to broke loose from its mooring and destroy a grounded JLENS blimp.
The aerostats did not carry weapons, military officials said in 2014.
