lighter-than-air vehicles - Defense Innovation Marketplace

AEROSTAT PROGRAMSAerostats are air vehicles that utilize buoyant LTA gases to achieve lift and remain aloft forextended periods of time. Aerostats are composed of four primary components: aerostat, tether,mooring station and payload. In modern military use, aerostats are recognized as cost-effective,survivable systems capable of providing enhanced ISR, communications and force protectioncapabilities to numerous operational scenarios. Aerostat capabilities are dependent upon anumber of factors, including aerostat size, mooring station altitude, atmospheric conditions, andpayload weight. A range of system configurations have been developed since the 1980s to meet avariety of operational needs.Early systems were developed to enable target identification and tracking of small aircraft andother narcotics-drug traffic along the U.S.-Mexican border. While these systems are still in usetoday, no new developments in aerostats occurred until the onset of the wars in Iraq andAfghanistan. At the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, commanders soon found themselvessubject to high levels of gun fire and rocket-propelled grenade attacks at the BaghdadInternational Airport and other high-travel locations in Iraq. In 2004, aerostats, equipped withcameras and sensor payloads, were raised at these locations to help locate and identify theattackers. They proved highly effective at reducing the number of daytime attacks and also atobserving nighttime activity, demonstrating their ability to provide valuable ISR information andtrack enemy forces. 14Figure 7: Operational Altitude (AGL), Duration, Volume, and Max Payload Specifications for DoD Aerostats11