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26 Dec 14. U.S. Bolsters Missile-Defense Presence in Japan. The U.S. is bolstering its ability to intercept ballistic missiles fired from North Korea with the deployment of another missile-defense radar in central Japan. In a joint announcement on Friday, the U.S. and Japanese governments said a second so-called Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance system, or AN/TPY-2, made by Raytheon Co. has been installed on the island nation. The announcement follows discussions last year between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe involving deployment of the technology that drew opposition from China. The mobile unit is based in Kyogamisaki in the central part of the country, complementing an existing system already located Shariki in northern Japan. The Kyogamisaki site is believed to be ideal for such purposes because any short– or medium-range missile launched from North Korea against American military defenses in Guam or Hawaii would probably fly over the region. The high-resolution, X-band, phased-array radar can track all classes of ballistic missiles at various points in their trajectories, according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. It can provide precise tracking information to any number of missile-defense batteries, including the truck-mounted Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, systems in the Pacific and the Middle East; the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System; or the Ground-based Mid-course Defense System in Alaska and California. The radar itself is composed of four mobile components: an antenna unit, an electronics unit, a cooling unit and a prime power unit, according to information from the manufacturer. The system can be transported in such cargo planes as the C-5 and C-17, as well as in ships, railroad cars and trucks. The Army, which has already purchased five of the radars, had previously planned to purchase as many as 18 of the units, though that number was reduced amid automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. Last year, each was budgeted to cost about $173m, according to budget documents. The defense budget for fiscal 2015, which began Oct. 1, included almost $50m for the radar system. Specifically, the funding would buy “long lead Transmit/Receive Integrated Microwave Modules (TRIMMs) for the Float Antenna Equipment Unit (AEU) and one Electronic Equipment Unit (EEU) Modification Kit,” the documents state. (Source: Open Source Information Report/DoD Buzz)
27 Dec 14. For the first time, the U.S. Army lofted a blimp equipped with a new cruise-missile and drone-fighting radar system high above rural Maryland. The system, made by Raytheon Company (RTN) and known as JLENS, consists of two helium-filled aerostats, or tethered blimps, that float 10,000 feet above the ground and carry powerful radars. “JLENS is strategically emplaced to help defend Washington D.C. and a Texas-sized portion of the East Coast from cruise missiles, drones and hostile aircraft,” said Dave Gulla, vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems’ Global Integrated Sensors business. “JLENS can detect potential threats at extremely long ranges, giving North American Aerospace Defense Command more time to make decisions and more space to react appropriately.” As part of the deployment, Raytheon engineers raised one of the football-field sized aerostats thousands of feet in the air and conducted a series of tests to ensure it was operating as designed. The company will continue to test and integrate the radar for several more days, then turn the first JLENS balloon over to Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s A Battery, 3rd Air Defense Artillery. The second aerostat is scheduled to go aloft in early 2015. Following a series of additional tests, it will also be turned over to the Soldiers, who will conduct an operational exercise wit