Aircraft
GA-ASI Lynx Radar Adapted for Maritime Surveillance from an Aerostat
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) of California belatedly revealed that its Lynx multimode radar
This screenshot shows a display of the maritime wide-area search (MWAS) mode of the Lynx radar. (Photo: GA-ASI)
This screenshot shows a display of the maritime wide-area search (MWAS) mode of the Lynx radar. (Photo: GA-ASI)

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) of California belatedly revealed that its Lynx multimode radar had been flown successfully on an aerostat during a U.S. Air Force exercise last July.

The exercise was held at NAS Oceana, Va., and was designed to explore whether aerostats could perform maritime surveillance in a littoral environment. Aerostats have been increasingly favored as a means of low-cost, persistent surveillance over contested land areas, such as Afghanistan and Iraq.