Thursday - December 18, 2014

Defense Yes, But Against Whom?

The U.S. military is testing a new cruise-missile defense system by launching a blimp-like airship near Baltimore.

Wednesday’s event at Aberdeen Proving Ground gives the region its first look at JLENS, short for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System.

By February, two helium-filled airships will be tethered to concrete pads four miles apart, floating 10,000 feet high for the three-year test.

Radar on one ship will scan in a 340-mile radius, roughly from Norfolk, Virginia, to upstate New York. Controllers on the ground will use radar on the other vehicle to pinpoint targets. The airships won’t carry weapons.

The military says the balloons also won’t carry cameras. But privacy advocates are leery of the system’s ability to constantly monitor moving objects, including cars on the ground.

JLENS, which is short for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, is a system of two aerostats, or tethered airships, that float 10,000 feet in the air. The helium filled aerostats, each nearly as long as a football field, carry powerful radars that can protect a territory roughly the size of Texas from airborne threats.

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.

An affordable, elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system, JLENS uses a powerful integrated radar system mounted on two aerostats to detect, track and target a variety of threats. This capability better enables commanders to defend against threats, including hostile cruise missiles; low-flying manned and unmanned aircraft; and moving surface vehicles such as boats, mobile missile launchers, automobiles, trucks and tanks. JLENS also provides ascent phase detection of tactical ballistic missiles and large-caliber rockets.

“Over the horizon” is right; from 10,000 feet up, the line of sight horizon is 122 miles away (a 244 mile circle). For a direct 340 mile horizon, you’d have to be 77,000 feet up, nearly in space.

So what we have here, now flying or soon to be flying over eastern America, is a flying thing with a design that looks borrowed from toilet graffiti that can - if given enough computer power and if the diagrams above can be believed - can track any (every???) moving object as small as an RPG, on land, sea, or air, at any given speed (tanks and trucks aren’t exactly supersonic) in an area from Kingston Ontario in the North to the North Carolina’s Outer Banks in the South, to Columbus Ohio in the West to Cape Cod MA in the Northeast to the edge of TN in the Southwest to a long long way out to sea in the east.

But not to worry; the balloons aren’t armed. No, they’re merely linked in to any and every missile system that we have, along with all the combat ships and aircraft up and down the coast. And all the troops on the ground. And I’m certain that our over-reaching, unitized, universal, all-powerful, unlimited, law-abiding, limited, Constitution, “take care of our friends and punish our enemies”, nearly tyrannical government would never even consider linking in DHS, the FBI or all the police departments, nor ever condone using the tracking abilities inherent in this years long “test” for any “civilian” “law enforcement” operation. It’s just a coincidence that, “for your own good” - to protect us against terrorists and Chinese cruise missiles - that the government also just happens to now have a gun pointed at your head every minute of the day. If they feel like it. And you’ll never know. Probably damn near half the population under that circle. At least a third of us.

He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

Additional equipment could offer commanders extensive communications relay capabilities, or even area surveillance of the ground. The JLENS program reportedly deployed a smaller 15 meter aerostat to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. In late November 2003, the Army announced its intention to redeploy the Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) force protection aerostat from Afghanistan to Iraq. RAID, adapted out of JLENS via the Army Rapid Equipping Force, became its own program, involving both flying aerostats and fixed-tower configurations like GBOSS.

A privately-funded January 2013 test mounted similar equipment on a JLENS system, successfully demonstrating its ability to monitor humans walking near roads.

more info - http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/jlens-coordinating-cruise-missile-defense-and-more-02921/
PS this is the marketing success story of the decade - http://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/article/winning-pr-campaigns/pr-message-mapping-in-the-digital-era-a-real-life-case-study-f

Posted by Drew458     on 12/18/2014 at 11:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Homeland-Security • Jack Booted Thugs • Military • Politics •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner