http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3507 U.S. Air Force web site Tethered Aerostat Radar System Posted 3/29/2010 Printable Fact Sheet Photos Tethered Aerostat Radar System Download HiRes Mission The Tethered Aerostat Radar System, or TARS, is an aerostat-borne, surveillance program. Using the aerostat as a stationary airborne platform for a surveillance radar, the system is capable of detecting low altitude aircraft at the radar's maximum range by mitigating curvature of the earth and terrain masking limitations. TARS provides a detection and monitoring capability along the United States-Mexico border, the Florida Straits, and a portion of the Caribbean in support of the Department of Defense Counterdrug Program. The primary agencies using the TARS surveillance data include U.S. Northern Command in support of Customs and Border Protection (Air and Marine Operations Center and Caribbean Air and Marine Operations Center) and U.S. Southern Command in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South. In addition to its counterdrug mission, TARS surveillance data also supports North American Aerospace Defense Command's air sovereignty mission for the continental United States. Features TARS consists of four major parts: the aerostat and airborne support equipment; the radar payload; the tether and winch system; and the ground station. The aerostat used on the TARS program is a large fabric envelope filled with helium and air. The hull of the aerostat contains two chambers separated by a gas tight fabric partition. The upper chamber is filled with helium, a lighter-than-air gas, which provides the aerostat its lifting capability. The lower chamber is a pressurized air compartment (air ballonet). The aerostat hull is constructed of a lightweight, Tedlar fabric that weighs only eight ounces per yard. The fabric is resistant to environmental degradation, minimizes helium leakage, and provides structural strength to the aerostat. There is also a pressurized windscreen compartment underneath the aerostat that contains and protects the radar. A sophisticated system of sensors, blowers and valves controls the air pressure within the air ballonet, maintaining the aerostat's aerodynamic shape. The TARS program uses two different sizes of aerostats, categorized by volume. The 275,000 cubic foot, or 275K, aerostat is 186 feet long and 62.5 feet in diameter with a fin span of 68.6 feet. The 420,000 cubic foot, or 420K, aerostat is 208.5 feet long and 69.5 feet in diameter with a fin span of 75.5 feet. These aerostats can rise up to 15,000 feet mean sea level, while tethered by a single nylon and polyethylene constructed cable. The normal operating altitude varies by site, but the norm is approximately 12,000 feet MSL. Aerostat power is developed by an on-board, 400 Hertz generator. The aerostat also carries a 100-gallon diesel fuel tank. All systems, to include the generator are controlled via an aerostat telemetry link. The TARS program currently uses a Lockheed Martin, L-88A or L-88(V)3 radar. All radar data is transmitted to the ground station then digitized and fed to the various control centers for display. . The ground station is where a flight director, seated before banks of meters and television screens, monitors the aerostat's performance. A doppler weather radar, wind profiler and ground weather station are installed at each site to support flight operations. Each site also obtains up-to-date forecasts and weather warnings from the Air Force Weather Agency. Operators launch the aerostat from a large circular launch pad containing a mooring system (fixed or mobile), depending on the site configuration. The mooring system contains a large winch with 25,000 feet of tether cable. During the launch sequence, the winch reels out the tether until the aerostat reaches operational altitude. When the aerostat is lowered, it is secured to a mooring tower. While moored, the aerostat weather vanes with the wind. Background The first aerostat were assigned to the Air Force in December 1980 at Cudjoe Key, Fla., with the original 250,000-cubic foot aerostat. An additional site was constructed and operated by the Air Force at Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 1983. This site was deactivated a few years later. During the 1980s, the U.S. Customs Service operated a network of aerostats to help counter illegal drug trafficking. Their first site was built at High Rock, Grand Bahamas Island, in 1984. The second site was built at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in 1986. Before 1992, three agencies operated the TARS network: the Air Force, U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Coast Guard. Congressional language in 1992 transferred management of the system to the Defense Department, with the Air Force as executive agent. For security and safety reasons, air space around Air Force aerostat sites is restricted for a radius of at least two to three statute miles and an altitude up to 15,000 feet. This action saved the U.S. government several million dollars in annual operations and maintenance costs. The operational sites are located at Yuma and Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; Deming, N.M.; Marfa, Eagle Pass and Rio Grande City, Texas; Cudjoe Key, Fla.; and Lajas, Puerto Rico. The contract management office is located in Newport News, Va. and the logistics hub is located in El Paso, Texas. General Characteristics Primary Function: Detection of low-level aircraft and surface targets Prime Contractor: The sites are currently operated and maintained under contract with ITT Systems Division, ILC Dover and Tethered Communications (TCOM, L.P.) manufacture the aerostat-envelopes. Lockheed Martin manufactures the radars. Volume: 275,000 and 420,000 cubic feet Tether Length: 25,000 feet Payload Weight: 1,200-2,200 pounds Maximum Detection Range: 200 nautical miles Date Deployed: 1978 Air Combat Command, Public Affairs Office; 130 Andrews St., Suite 202; Langley AFB, VA 23665-1987; DSN 574-5007 or 757-764-5007. ============ http://www.aerialproducts.com/surveillance-systems/ltas-balloon-surveillance.html Aerial Products (equipment which can be placed on an aerostat for surviellance) ========== http://ludb.clui.org/ex/i/TX3188/ The Center for Land Use Interpretation Tethered Aerostat-Borne Radar System (TARS) Site Name: Tethered Aerostat-Borne Radar System (TARS) Site Category: Military Archive ID#: TX3188 Description: A growing network of inflated static aircraft (aerostats) that are raised aloft and cabled in place (tethered), for use as radar stations along the USA/Mexico border. Operated by the Air Force and the US Customs service, TARS' primary mission is to detect small aircraft entering into the country from the south. The system currently employs around eight of the unmanned Aerostats. Location: 300 miles W of San Antonio, in Marfa Address: TX Links: http://www.etl.noaa.gov/technology/tars/ LCS: Military, Radar ------------------ http://wikimapia.org/1798438/Marfa-Tethered-Aerostat-Radar-Site Wikimapia The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is a balloon-borne radar system. The primary aerostat mission is to provide low level radar surveillance data in support of federal agencies involved in the nation's drug interdiction program. Secondary mission is to provide North American Aerospace Defense Command with low level surveillance coverage for air sovereignty in the Florida Straights. One aerostat, located at Cudjoe Key, Fla., transmits TV Marti, which sends American television signals into Cuba for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting. ================= http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/tars.htm WMD Around the World (document) Tethered Aerostat Radar System The Tethered Aerostat Radar System is a balloon-borne radar. The primary aerostat mission is to provide radar data in support of other federal agencies involved in the nation's drug interdiction program. One aerostat, located at Cudjoe Key, Fla., transmits TV Marti, which sends American television signals into Cuba for the U.S. Information Agency. The air drug interdiction program consists of land-based aerostat radar detection ballons along the U.S. southern border and in the Carribbean, and a series of airborne surveillance assets such as P-3 AEW, interceptor aircraft, and apprehension helicopters. The purpose is to seal off the border to illegal drugs coming in by aircraft. The program has been expanded to interdict the narcotic flow before it gets to the U.S. border. The Federal Aviation Administration first advised Customs to begin looking for aerostat sites on the Southwest border and the gulf in 1981. Major General Piotrowski, in hearings before the House in 1983, urged consideration of the use of aerostats in the war on drugs. The requirement for the Tethered Aerostat Radar System network was established in 1984 by the U.S. Customs Service to help counter illegal drug trafficking. The first antidrug aerostat went operational in 1985 at High Rock Grand Bahama Island. The second site was built at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in 1986. Customs began seeking proposal requests from contractors for these balloons in 1987. Overall responsibility for the program fell to Customs and the Coast Guard, until congressional language in 1991 and 1992 transferred management to the Defense Department, with the Air Force as executive agent. Drug traffickers used air transport to enter U.S. territory for years because it was cheap, easy, swift, and convenient. The Coast Guard and Customs Service struggled for years with inadequate resources to control our airways. The military was focused on tracking high altitude, high speed incursions of our borders; that is, they were looking for Soviet bombers. By flying low and slow, the drug traffickers avoided the military detection net. In the mid-1980's the Nation began to take back control of the airways in the United States. The primary focus was at first on the Florida region, the southeast region, and the Caribbean; aerostats--radar looking down attached to ballons, looking down for low-flying aircraft- -were put around Florida. Radar aircraft, the smaller P-3's and the giant 3-A AWAC's began patrolling the skies over the Caribbean. Now, there were many holes in this network. It could not and did not field all our borders. It nabbed only a minority of the aircraft carrying drugs into the United States. But the point that was widely missed was that it scared pilots enough to discourage them from flying those routes. The solution for the drug industry was really very easy though. The pilots just began flying further west. Instead of attacking the heavily defended Florida frontier, they flew over Mexican territory and across the land border into the United States. Intelligence sources reported dramatic decreases in the amount of airborne drug traffic since the first Southwest border antidrug balloon went up above Fort Huachuca, AZ, in 1987. In a September 1990 letter, written shortly before funding was secured for the four aerostat balloons in question, Stephen Duncan, DOD's coordinator for drug enforcement policy, called the aerostats the `most cost-effective counternarcotics detection and monitoring asset.' By the time that half the land border, the New Mexico-Arizona-California stretch, was covered by aerostats, few drug aircraft tried to penetrate that half of the border. But aerostat balloons are not perfect. Weather, terrain, and other factors affect the performance of the aerostats. They have proven to be a fair weather friend. They must be brought to ground in high winds. Significant problems have plagued the contractor trying to get the bugs out of the aerostats plan for the Texas border. The radar planes are expensive to operate, but they can plug the holes in the aerostat net, if and when the planes are available. In 1992, aerostats were up only 59 percent of the time, because there were aerostats in Texas that fell down because of improper production. As a result, the contractor for those ballons lost the contract for the option on the next four ballons. All the time those aerostats were down on the ground, being repaired, was counted in that 59 percent. GE built the aerostats which are the ones most often cited as having a large amount of downtime. The GE-built balloons did not stay afloat. The contractor could not deliver a product that would stay airborne. As a result, Customs did not renew the GE contract. The GE contract had also included an option for four additional aerostats, an option which was understandably not picked up by the U.S. Government due to the problems with GE-built balloons. TCOM had lost the contract because they were underbid by GE. PERCENTAGE OF AEROSTAT--UPTIME VS. DOWNTIME ------------------------------------- Uptime Downtime ------------------------------------- Fiscal year 1991: 1 Cudjoe Key 47 53 High Rock 61 39 Georgetown 68 32 Puerto Rico 38 62 Ft. Huachuca 67 33 Deming 66 34 Yuma 84 16 Marfa 41 59 Eagle Pass 37 63 Rio Grande City 55 45 Fiscal year 1992: 2 Cudjoe Key 59 41 High Rock 3 46 54 Georgetown 69 31 Deming 65 35 Ft. Huachuca 65 35 Yuma 82 18 Marfa 48 52 Eagle Pass 41 59 Rio Grande City 51 49 Puerto Rico 82 18 [Footnote] 1 Average percent uptime=60%. [Footnote] 2 Average percent uptime=59%. [Footnote] 3 Out of service. [Footnote] Source: U.S. Customs Service. ------------------------------------ ================== http://radomes.org/museum/documents/MarfaaerostatTX2001report.html Radomes.org The Marfa Aerostat System Contributed by Harvey L. Hartman, Jr. Excerpts from the report on our Marfa trip, 24 Nov - 12 Dec 2001 Unclassified The Marfa tethered aerostat is one of a dozen or so blimp-like airships that are located along the southern border of the U.S., from California to Puerto Rico. The purpose of this aerostat system is to create an electronic veil that monitors and protects the southern border against unauthorized entry by low-flying aircraft, presumably carrying illegal drugs or immigrants. These aerostats are equipped with a very sophisticated 360-degree radar system and a diesel generator mounted in a pod under the aerostat and are "flown" between 8,000 and 15,000 feet above ground. The aerostats are unmanned and, as the name implies, they remain connected to the ground by a 1-inch diameter kevlar tether. Multiple computer systems, both on the aerostat and in the Operations Building on the ground, monitor every parameter of the balloon, radar and generator equipment, and local weather conditions. These aerostats are capable of being flown for up to a week before the generator's fuel tank must be refilled or routine maintenance is necessary on the radar and aerostat. However, high winds, heavy precipitation, and other factors usually are cause to bring the aerostat down early. The aerostats are spaced at overlapping intervals so that the temporary lowering of any one aerostat will not leave a hole in the radar coverage. It takes between 30 minutes and 2 hours to launch or recover the aerostat, depending on the urgency of the situation. When the aerostat is brought down, it's nose is docked to a mast; however, the balloon is still "flying" and subject to weathervaning, which causes it to gently and slowly pivot about it's mooring mast in the slightest of breezes. Maintenance to the on-board equipment is done by bucket truck. (You have to look very closely to spot the workers in the bucket under the airship.) These aerostats are semi-flexible, constructed of what can best be described as a rubberized cloth (although this is a very poor and non-technical description) and has an internal rigid truss-type structure to support the equipment. Although the aerostats technology, construction, and materials are less than 20 years old, much of the methods for launching and recovering the Giant have their roots in, and remain somewhat unchanged since, the giant airships of the 1920s! These things are very large, about the same size as the Goodyear Blimp, and are quite awesome up close. Because of their size, and their very slow movements, their nickname of "Gentle Giant" is very appropriate. At least for me, it was very intoxicating to just stand and watch it in awe! This was one of our more-interesting assignments in a very beautiful part of Texas. TSgt Harvey Hartman Technician - Electronics Section 272nd EIS, TxANG LaPorte, TX ------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System Wikipedia The Tethered Aerostat Radar System[1] is an American low-level surveillance system that uses aerostats (moored balloons) as radar platforms. Another system of this kind is the EL/M-2083. Contents [hide] * 1 System * 2 Operation * 3 Mission * 4 History * 5 Technical and operational data * 6 See also * 7 References * 8 External links [edit] System The aerostats are large fabric envelopes filled with helium, and can rise up to an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) while tethered by a single cable. The largest lifts a 1000 kg payload to an operating altitude providing low-level, downward-looking radar coverage. The aerostat consists of four major parts or assemblies: the hull and fin, windscreen and radar platform, airborne power generator, and rigging and tether. The hull of the aerostat contains two parts separated by a gas-tight fabric partition. The upper chamber is filled with helium and provides the aerostat's lifting capability. The lower chamber of the hull is a pressurized air compartment. The hull is constructed of a lightweight polyurethane-coated Tedlar fabric. An airborne engine drives the generator, supplied by a 100-gallon diesel fuel tank. Beginning in the late 1990s, the aerostat sites were equipped with Lockheed Martin 420K aerostats. This blimp carries the Lockheed Martin L-88 as its primary payload, a surveillance radar with a range of 370 km (200 nm). The 420K's envelope shape, fin design, and cable attachment points are further optimized for high aerodynamic stability and easy ground handling. While Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the 420K aerostats, the envelopes are built by ILC Dover. As of 2004, all TARS sites except one were equipped with the 420K aerostats. The exception is Cudjoe Key, which uses two smaller, but otherwise similar, Lockheed Martin 275K blimps. One carries the L-88(V)3, a light-weight L-88 derivative, while the other is used to transmit the "TV Marti" TV program into Cuba.[2] [edit] Operation Operators launch the aerostat from a large circular launch pad containing a mooring fixed or mobile system. The mooring systems contain a large winch with 25,000 feet (7,600 m) of tether cable. Operational availability is generally limited only by the weather (60 percent standard) and routine maintenance downtime. The aerostats are stable in winds below 65 knots (120 km/h). Aerostat and equipment availability averages more than 98 percent system-wide. For security and safety reasons, air space around Air Force aerostat sites is restricted for a radius of at least two to three statute miles and an altitude up to 15,000 feet (4,600 m). [edit] Mission The primary mission is to provide low-level radar surveillance along the southwest border of the United States and Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean in support of federal agencies involved in the nation's drug interdiction program. The secondary mission is to provide North American Aerospace Defense Command with low-level surveillance coverage for air sovereignty in the Florida Straits. The aerostat radar data is available to NORAD and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. [edit] History The first aerostats were assigned to the Air Force in December 1980 at Cudjoe Key, Fla. During the 1980s, the U.S. Customs Service operated a network of aerostats to help counter illegal drug trafficking. Their first site was built at High Rock, Grand Bahamas Island, in 1984. The second site was built at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., in 1986. Before 1992, three agencies operated the TARS network: the Air Force, U.S. Customs Service and U.S. Coast Guard. Congress in 1992 transferred management of the system to the Defense Department, with the Air Force as executive agent. Under Air Force management, through contract consolidation and system standardization, the operations and maintenance cost per site was reduced from $6 million in fiscal year 1992 to $3.5 million in 2007. [edit] Technical and operational data Primary Function: Low-level, downward-looking radar; aircraft detection Volume: 275,000 and 420,000 cubic feet (12,000 m3) TARS aerostat near Marfa, TX Tether Length: 25,000 feet (7,600 m) Payload Weight: 1,200-2,200 pounds Maximum Detection Range: 200 nautical miles (400 km) Operational Sites: Yuma and Fort Huachuca, Ariz.; Deming, N.M.; Marfa, Eagle Pass, and Rio Grande City, Texas; Cudjoe Key, Fla.; and Lajas, Puerto Rico. Sites located at Morgan City, La., and Matagorda, Texas, are in a cold-storage configuration. Contract management office and logistics hub are located in Chesapeake, Va. ================== http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/04/23/dread-zeppelin-letter-from-west-texas/ Arthur Magazine Dread Zeppelins: Letter from West Texas POSTED BY DANIEL CHAMBERLIN Q: Where does the Border Patrol’s “drug blimp” go at night? A: It sleeps in a field outside of Marfa, Texas. The so-called “drug blimp” is actually a tethered aerostat — a white helium balloon as big or larger than the portly tire-company-maintained dirigibles that flock to parades and sporting events — operated by the U.S. Air Force, which makes the data it collects available to NORAD and the U.S. Border Patrol. It is by far the most tangible of the lazy clouds floating through the skies of the southern region of Far West Texas, its onboard radar system keeping an eye out for drug smugglers flying or driving loads of cocaine and or marijuana over from the deserts of Northern Mexico. It’s unmanned and controlled from the ground, attached via a tether cable to some kind of rail system. Similar aerostat sites can be found in the Bahamas, Arizona, and broadcasting decadent episodes of “Nanny 911? or whatever via TV Marti into Communist Cuba from Cudjoe Key, Florida. Or at least that’s what the Air Force has to say about it. I came across it moored, at about 3am, in a blazing circle of orange halide security lamps on my way from Los Angeles to visit friends in Marfa and Terlingua. I stopped and started snapping away with my camera, but kept getting that “willies” feeling that goes along with standing on a windy, deserted Texas road in the middle of the night, taking pictures of a government surveillance aircraft that chases narcotraficantes around. The Marfa aerostat is part of Far West Texas’ complex system of border monitoring technology that includes triggers on rural routes that insure government agents will be checking up on late night back road cruisers. Or so I was warned by two local joint-passing bros when I inquired as to where my friend Sasha and I might catch a glimpse of the Marfa Lights, or at least document the West Texas hills in the light of the full moon. They pointed us down Pinto Canyon Road, but told us to expect company. No Border Patrol 4×4s were waiting for us though (nor were the mysterious Marfa Lights); there were only a few wary horses on hand to monitor our activity. It’s no secret that the aerostat is based off Highway 90 between Marfa and Van Horn, so it was easy enough to catch again on my way back to Los Angeles a week later, right around sundown, when I was a bit less creeped out. The point being, of course, is that West Texas is a weird and wonderful place where psychedelic cowboy bands play atop pirate ships that have run aground on sandy desert shoals; Harvard-educated lawyers build lovely off-the-grid compounds based on ancient Egyptian architectural designs and the Feds watch it all from dread zeppelins floating 10,000 feet up above. Arthur columnist Dave Reeves and I spent more time there than we were expecting, and will be filing further dispatches in the weeks to come. Stand by …