The Army has deployed several tethered aerostats, including
the Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS) and the JLENS Rapid Aerostat
Initial Deployment (RAID) system. A new hybrid airship weapons system, just
larger than the length of a football field, will take to the skies to provide
an unblinking, persistent eye for more than three weeks at a time to aid US
Army troops in Afghanistan. Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded on June
14, 2010 a $517 million agreement to develop up to three Long Endurance
Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) systems for the US Army. Northrop Grumman has
designed a system with plug-and-play capability to readily integrate into the
Army's existing common ground station command centers and ground troops in
forward operating bases - the main objective to provide US warfighters with
persistent ISR capability to increase awareness of the ever changing
battlefield.