US turns over Aerostat Radar System to Philippine Navy

August 23, 2017

The Philippine Navy (PN) formally received its 28M Class Tethered Aerostat (TARS) from United States government in a turnover ceremony in Zambales last Tuesday. Capt. Lued Lincuna, Philippine Navy spokesman said US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission to the Philippines Michael Klescheski handed over the TARS to Philippine Navy Flag Officer In Command, Vice Adm. Ronald Joseph Mercado who received the equipment in behalf of the Philippine government during the ceremony at the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) in San Antonio, Zambales. The aerostat is a large fabric envelope filled with helium, and can rise up to an altitude of 5,000 feet while tethered by a single cable, explained Lincuna. "Specifically, the 28M Class Tethered Aerostat is a self-sustained, rapidly deployable, unmanned lighter-than-air platform to be utilized by the PN to bolster its maritime domain awareness,” Licuna said. Lincuna explained why the Philippine Navy choose the NETC as staging point for the new capability. “The NETC in Zambales was chosen to be the staging point since, as the largest real-estate property of the PN with flat terrain, it fits the minimum space of 300 ft x 300 ft open area requirement for the launching of the said aerostat,” Lincuna said. “Also, as the premiere training institution of the PN, personnel here can be trained using this system as one of the new competencies,” he added Lincuna also emphasized “through this acquisition, the PN is poised to enhance its capability in Maritime Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance by effectively detecting maritime traffic within the country’s coastal waters using sensors. Moreover, it will also be utilized in the conduct of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) operations.” “The TARS also includes a weather station that provides telemetry data to the ground station for the monitoring of ambient temperature, pressure, wind speed and other pertinent parameters in the operation of the system,” he said. “This project is part of the U.S. Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) Program (2016-2020), a capacity-building assistance for Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines that aims to improve the ability of these countries to address a range of maritime challenges,” he added. Robina Asido/DMS