Washington DC Area To Be Monitored By Army Aerostat
Several days ago, Raytheon announced the movement, in 2014, of the JLENS system to Maryland. JLENS, or the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, is a system designed to track and provide fire control data against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, rotary and fixed wing aircraft, trains, cars, trucks, surface moving objects, boats, large caliber rockets, and theater ballistic missiles. Basically, it tracks just about everything. One aerostat tracks, while a second provides fire control data, in a tandem system.
Two schools of thought have formed about this announcement. One school of thought revolves around this being an nothing more than a push for procurement dollars. Having this thing in full view of Congress would do that nicely. The other school of thought, which many would have once believed to be far too ‘tin foil hat crowd’ conspiracy theory, is that this is yet another system meant to monitor Americans. Interestingly, surveillance gear, intended for now canceled blimp programs, namely the Army’s LEMV Program, and the Air Force’s Blue Devil Program, would accomplish that goal, and were designed for that purpose.
Its a sad state of affairs that should this turn out to be another surveillance program, many wouldn’t be at all surprised. I simply find myself wondering why a system like JLENS is needed to watch over the DC area. Time will tell.
Arcturus Blog 