Lockheed Martin [LMT] said it is continuing to work on a tethered blimp designed to provide real-time reconnaissance and surveillance 24 hours a day to soldiers in Afghanistan. The company is under a $345 million-contract with the Army to operated and sustain the Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS).
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| The Persistent Threat Detection System. Photo by Lockheed Martin |
PTDS is an aerostat-based system equipped with multiple sensors that provides low-cost, continuous communications and persistent surveillance capabilities that cannot be performed by manned or unmanned aircraft, Lockheed Martin said. It carries different types of surveillance equipment to deliver constant day and night, 360-degree detection, surveillance, monitoring and force protection.
“PTDS has proven to be a critical asset for the protection of our forces and those of our allies,” Jim Quinn, vice president of C4ISR Systems with Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions, said during the Association of the U.S. Army exposition this week in Washington. “We will work in theater with the Army to ensure that PTDS continues to provide mission critical support directly to our warfighters,” he added.
PTDS is designed to cover large areas and can remain aloft for more than 25 consecutive days, Lockheed Martin said.
“The PTDS has proven quite effective providing coalition forces with real-time situational awareness of insurgent and other illegal activity,” the company said. “It is used to protect soldiers deployed at forward operating bases, as well as in cities to safeguard the general public.”
PTDS is run out of the Army’s program executive office for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors.