Aerostat, stat!

Saturday, 14th May 2005 by

Aerostat balloons are all along the southern borders of the US. The one shown here is at Fort Huachuca located near Sierra Vista, Arizona. The "Tethered Aerostat Radar System" is a balloon-borne radar primarily used to provide radar data to US federal agencies involved in the "war on drugs". Before these balloons came in the military's radar systems were aimed at detecting high altitude fast moving objects (bombers). Small, slow moving aircraft flying low could easily slip into the US, running drugs and the like.

Thanks: Andrew & Brad Mohr