Israel brings a balloon-borne radar to the U.S. Army show

Israel Aerospace Industries will show a new radar carried by a small tethered balloon at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting in Washington this week, aimed at giving ground forces a mobile, elevated view of low-flying drones, aircraft and other targets.

The system, called POINT@AIR, puts an active electronically scanned array radar on a compact aerostat, a tethered, helium-filled balloon that can hold a sensor high above the ground for long periods. IAI says the radar can detect and track multiple air, sea and ground targets, prioritize them, and feed the data to command-and-control systems. The company says it can be moved quickly and does not need permanent infrastructure. IAI did not disclose the radar’s range, the balloon’s operating altitude, how long it can stay aloft, the size of the crew or the price, and it has not announced a customer.

Raising a radar off the ground lets it see past hills, buildings and the curve of the Earth, which block ground-based radars from spotting low-flying targets until they are close. POINT@AIR is based on IAI’s ELM-2083 radar family. Its radar steers its beam electronically in both directions and also rotates mechanically to give 360-degree coverage, according to the company.

“Seeing the battlespace is the starting point for every effective defense. The more persistent and comprehensive that view becomes, the better equipped forces are to understand what is unfolding, anticipate threats and act with confidence. IAI is increasingly developing the next-generation capabilities that expand the boundaries of situational awareness and provide our customers with greater visibility, flexibility and time to respond,” said Guy Bar Lev, president and CEO of IAI.

The original ELM-2083 is a larger L-band early-warning radar carried by aerostats and derived from the Green Pine radar used in Israel’s Arrow missile defense system. IAI’s ELTA Systems subsidiary has supplied it to several countries, including India. POINT@AIR is meant to bring the same idea to a smaller, more mobile setup that can move with forces.

“Our goal was not simply to reduce the size of an existing solution, but to rethink what an aerostat-based radar could achieve. By combining advanced AESA technology, long-range detection and 360-degree coverage in a compact configuration, POINT@AIR gives operators the ability to establish persistent awareness where fixed infrastructure may not be practical,” said Dror Bar, CEO of ELTA Systems and an executive vice president at IAI.

Aerostat radars have a mixed history with the U.S. Army. The service used smaller camera-carrying aerostats to watch over bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it canceled the much larger JLENS cruise missile defense program after one of its aerostats broke loose from its mooring in Maryland in 2015 and drifted over Pennsylvania.