Pentagon Withholds Funds to Deploy Innovative Missile Defense Project JLENS that Could Help Protect Our Interests in the Region
Colonel Brian G. Searcy (Retired), with Newton Consulting and Engineering, an Aviation and Aeronautics Consulting Firm, and former Vice Wing Commander and Active Duty Wing Commander for the 116th Air Control Wing for the U.S. Air Force
The United States may be ending two long wars, yet the military buildup continues in the Persian Gulf region and throughout the rest of the world. These threats are alarming and real. The United States Navy conducts exercises with 30 other nations, while Iran successfully tests a new missile. As recently as October 4, a spokesman for Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said all the regime needs to attack Israel is “24 hours and an excuse.” As tension in the region escalates, our attention must shift to the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic opening to the Gulf through which roughly one third of the world’s oil passes.
Despite this, the Department of Defense and Pentagon is delaying the testing the innovative missile defense project called JLENS – Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System program, creating strategic uncertainty and near term risks for our deployed forces. JLENS is a missile defense system that uses two radars which are housed in two aerostats or blimps to identify, track and destroy enemy missiles, ground vehicles, drones and ships at sea. These elevated radars are 10,000 feet in the air and tethered to ground stations, which lets them pick-up targets over the horizon, over mountains, and across large bodies of water.
Additionally, JLENS is the only operationally tested lighter-than air platform in the U.S. military establishment with this fire control capability. The sophistication of JLENS gives commander as much as a quarter of an hour to determine the exact nature of the potential threat and to take the exact and appropriate defensive actions. This program has exceeded the Army’s expectations with the objective of meeting Central Command’s urgent persistent surveillance needs. JLENS was set to deploy, presumably to Afghanistan, to prove itself in real world operational tests. In April, it accomplished a simulation test that synchronized its surveillance radar with advanced fire control radar and a Patriot missile to engage and shoot down a simulated enemy missile.
The program has full Congressional support – approving the program and appropriating the funds – and approval from the Secretary of Defense for overseas testing, but the Pentagon is withholding the funds. The anticipated use of traditional missiles, aircraft and mines, combined with the Iran’s stated threat of asymmetrical naval attacks against our fleet, would create a daunting and complex decision making process for commanders at all levels. Hesitating to avoid a miscue in an area as confined as the Strait of Hormuz – a mere 21 nautical miles at its narrowest point – could easily lead to the loss of significant American lives and assets.