JLENS Helps Kill Iranian Boat Swarms, Cruise Missiles But Does Army Care?

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http://defense.aol.com/2012/11/02/jlens-helps-kill-iranian-boat-swarms-cruise-missiles-but-does-a/




JLENS Helps Kill Iranian Boat Swarms, Cruise Missiles But Does Army Care?
By Colin Clark
Published: November 2, 2012

Imagine Iran, for whatever reason, is threatening the Fifth Fleet, pledging to use its patented swarming boats to whup us.

Well, the Army has spent almost $2 billion developing a capability that can track and provide "target-quality data" to protect the Navy from swarming Iranian attackers. It can also track and help kill cruise missiles. But the service seems reluctant to spend some of the remaining money in the budget to actually use it.

~snip~

But JLENS is not without blemish. While we hear its readiness has significantly improved, it did not meet its operational readiness requirements, being ready about one quarter of the time the Army wants -- 15 hours between mean failures compared to the baseline of 70 hours, according to the Pentagon testers. We understand it is now exceeding those rates substantially, by some 30 hours. One of them was destroyed in an accident when another airship broke free from its moorings two years ago and banged into the JLENS.

Earlier this year the Pentagon cut the planned purchase of JLENS to just the two units already built. But Raytheon, its builder, clearly hopes the recent test results will convince the Army and the senior Pentagon leadership that in these tight budget times JLENS is worth funding.