A tethered aerostat-based system in use by the Army since 2004, the Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS) is equipped with multi-mission sensors to provide long endurance intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications in support of coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Recognized as one of the Army’s Greatest Inventions of 2005 by the Department of the Army Engineers and Scientists, PTDS leverages a wide-area, secure communications backbone for the integration of threat reporting from multiple available sensors. The system’s sensor integration architecture supports the automated interoperability between tactical/theater surveillance assets and the dissemination of threat data to operational forces to aid interdiction of hostile fires and unconventional threats.
The PTDS consists of an aerostat, tether, mobile mooring platform, mission payloads, ground control shelter, maintenance and officer shelter and power generators and site-handling equipment.
Lockheed Martin delivered its first Lighter-Than-Air-based persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems to the U.S. Navy more than 75 years ago. This enduring legacy of Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) innovation, engineering and production has resulted in more than 300 airships and thousands of aerostats in support of military operations world-wide.
