Aircraft Broke Loose From Its Tether In Aberdeen And Knocked Out Power As It Drifted

When a JLENS aerostat came loose from its mooring and drifted north from Aberdeen proving ground last week, it brought renewed criticism of an expensive program that detractors say has not lived up to its potential.

The aerostat, which the non-aviation media generally calls a "blimp", dragged its tether along as it drifted north from Aberdeen into Pennsylvania for about three-and-a-half hours, knocking out power to about 30,000 homes when that tether came into contact with power lines.

The Pentagon has spent about $2.7 billion on the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS) system, and it has always had its critics. Now, the chairman and ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee have renewed questions about the value of the program, according to Fox News. In a letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx, they asked for all DOD and DOT contracts and documents related to the program, to be delivered by November 12. "This event raises questions about the value and reliability of JLENS,” wrote Reps. Jason Chaffetz, (R-UT) and Elijah Cummings, (D-MD). The committee leaders said that they want the contracts so that they can "understand whether JLENS is a worthwhile investment of taxpayer dollars."

The two prototype aerostats are designed to help with early detection of airborne threats to the National Capital Region, but they failed to detect a gyrocopter which was flown through the region by a former postal employee and then landed on the Capitol lawn on April 15.

The website Foxtrot Alpha reports that on Sunday, the Army plucked the deflated aerostat and the radar equipment it was carrying from the Pennsylvania woods using a CH-47 helicopter.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.raytheon.com