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Article: Lighter-than-air Force.(Aerostat radar balloons)
- Article from:
- Airman
- Article date:
- March 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 U.S. Air Force, Air Force News Agency. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Aerostats positioned 10,000 feet over America's Southern border provide effective intrusion alarms
Hey, hey hey, drug smugglers. Say "hi" to Fat Alberts -- burly remote-controlled balloons officially known as the tethered Aerostat Radar Systems.
Aerostats perform very unusual and highly sensitive communications duties for elite government law enforcement and broadcasting organizations in situations where no other practical way to do a job exists.
Like a flying intrusion detector, 11 aerostats with inboard radars troll for drug-hauling aircraft, along an arc that stretches from Puerto Rico to Yuma, Ariz. In the early 1990s, one aerostat started ...