As part of a global monitoring network project from the stratosphere, the British Ministry of Defense will test stratospheric balloons developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation.
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Last December, the British Ministry of Defense announced its Aether project, estimated at 100 million pounds sterling (118 million euros). The goal is to create a communications system with unmanned, rapidly deployable stratospheric reconnaissance and intelligence units anywhere in the world.
The drone are very useful for intelligence operations, but one of their big flaws is their autonomy. They can stay inair a few tens of minutes, while this project specifically requires autonomous devices for several months. The American company Sierra Nevada Corporation has just announced that it has been selected for the evaluation phase of the project.
Track vehicles from the stratosphere
In an attempt to win the contract, the firm will demonstrate its stratospheric balloons. These have already been tested by the US military three years ago. Balloons can reach altitudes of nearly 20 kilometers and are able to track vehicles day and night. One of the objectives was then to locate the traffickers of narcotics. As the system has been developed for several years, this no doubt explains the choice of the British government.
” Balloons offer higher operational altitudes than airplanes and can provide longer observation times for much less size, weight, power and cost than traditional reconnaissance and surveillance platforms “said the firm. Testing should begin” later this year “.
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