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Joint Systems Integration Center (JSIC)

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Tethered blimp to fly over USJFCOM Suffolk complex

U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) Joint Systems Integration Center (JSIC) will launch a tethered, unmanned blimp above its Suffolk compound and provide communication support during the upcoming annual Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID).

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By MC2 (AW) Nikki Carter
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(SUFFOLK, Va., May 29, 2009) -- The U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) Joint Systems Integration Center (JSIC) will launch a tethered, unmanned blimp above its Suffolk compound from sunrise to sunset daily, June 8-24.

The blimp will float 1,000 feet above Suffolk and provide communication support during the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID).

CWID is an annual chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff event to test and evaluate technologies with the potential to provide solutions to current capability gaps in the areas of command and control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR).

The blimp will enable CWID to assess a potential communication technology and will not carry any cameras or surveillance technologies.

In every day life, cell towers provide routine access to video, Internet, and telephone service. Deployed forces do not always have that routine access. During the demonstration, organizers say the blimp will function as an airborne communications relay providing an opportunity to assess its potential for future use.

"Our troops must have the ability to move quickly yet still be able to maintain their communication links," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ted Volz of JSIC. "That's why in the future we may have mounted cell phone antennas on HUMVEEs, in aircraft, or other mobile platforms so their communication capability moves with them."

Voltz said the military can relay video back and forth through satellites, but that requires troops to stop, put the satellite dishes down, set up a computer network and establish a connection.

"It takes a lot of time as well and it doesn't help a small unit that is moving rapidly," he explained.

Voltz said one of JSIC's missions is to take warfighter requirements and provide solutions within six to 12 months by using government and commercial off-the-shelf technology. JSIC is assessing the capability that the blimp's antenna provides during CWID because it saves time and money to conduct assessments within the framework of an existing demonstration.