Long-range surface-to-air missile and other threat detection capability Aerostat
JLENS
Type
Long-range surface-to-air missile and other threat detection capability Aerostat
Place of origin
United States
Service history
In service
December 2014-Active testing and operation summarily suspended October 2015.
Used by
United States Army
Production history
Designer
Raytheon, TCOM
Designed
1998
Manufacturer
Raytheon
Unit cost
$175 million (avg unit cost)
Produced
2009 (Block 1) and 2011 (Block 2)
No. built
4
Variants
1
Specifications
Mass
7,000 pounds (3,200 kg)
Length
242 feet or 77 yards (70 m)
Diameter
~80 feet (24 m)
Main armament
none
Secondary armament
none
Payload capacity
3,500 pounds (1,600 kg)
Transmission
Multiple fiber optic links to ground facility
Propellant
none
Fuel capacity
none
Flight ceiling
10,000 feet (3,000 m)
Launch platform
tethered cable
The Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS (colloquially, Spy Balloon),[1] was a tethered aerial detection system designed to track boats, ground vehicles,[2] cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aircraft (airborne early warning and control), and other threats[specify]. The system had four primary components: two tethered aerostats which utilized a helium/air mix, armored mooring stations, sophisticated radars, and a processing station designed to communicate with anti-missile and other ground and airborne systems. Each system was referred to as an "orbit", and two orbits were built.[3] The Army-led joint program which fielded JLENS was designed to complement fixed-wing surveillance aircraft, saving money on crew, fuel, maintenance and other costs, and give military commanders advance warning to make decisions and provide notifications.[4] Following cost overruns, underperformance, declining support in Congress, and public scrutiny following a snapped tether which allowed one craft moored at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland to drift on a 100-mile uncontrolled descent across Pennsylvania, dragging its cable tether which damaged power lines and cut power to 20,000 homes, the program was suspended in October 2015, and completely discontinued by 2017.
^"Drone-Hunting Blimp To Launch Over Washington". Defense One. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
^"Surveillance aircraft floating high above Maryland". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
^Beth Stevenson (16 September 2014). "US Army trains on JLENS ahead of first deployment". Flightglobal. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
^Dan Vergano (24 July 2013). "It's a bird, it's a plane: No, it's an Army blimp". USA TODAY. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
media related to JLENS. Official U.S. Army JLENS website Official NORAD website/fact sheet Official Raytheon JLENS website Early JLENS brochure, April...
balloons) as radar platforms. Similar systems include the EL/M-2083 and JLENS. The aerostats are large fabric envelopes filled with helium, and can rise...
Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) broke free from its mooring station on APG October 28, 2015. It traveled...
NASAMS Joint Land Attack/Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensors (JLENS) SDB II JSOW-C1 Joint Data Network The U.S. Army is integrating Link 16...
Force Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk Tethered Aerostat Radar System JLENS Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance Alliance...
communications and information processing. Example systems include the U.S. JLENS and Israeli Aeronautics Defense Skystar 300. Surveillance blimps known as...
testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground beginning in 2015. The system, called JLENS, uses two moored balloons designed to provide over-the-horizon missile defense...
Practical and theoretical knowledge gained was redirected from the LEMV to the JLENS program. The US Army believed that the project's technical data and computer...
in the north of Israel, a similar balloon is already used in the south. JLENS - Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System...
JLEN Environmental Assets Group, formerly John Laing Environmental Fund, (LSE: JLEN) is a large British investment trust dedicated to investments in Renewable...
the EL/M-2083, which it sold to India and Singapore. A similar system, JLENS, was developed starting in 1998 by the United States for tracking cruise...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System or JLENS, which built aerostats to track low-altitude targets. The project received...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
International Public Partnerships Investec IP Group Ithaca Energy ITV IWG JLEN Environmental Assets Group Johnson Matthey JPMorgan American Investment Trust...
handful of Pentagon employees in Afghanistan and the procurement of the JLENS air-defense balloon" which, throughout the program's development over the...