Aircraft
Singapore, Malaysia are Buying Aerostats for Surveillance
Aerostat manufacturer TCOM suggests the market is growing at the expense of other airborne solutions.
A TCOM aerostat in the 55-meter class will provide air and maritime surveillance in Singapore. (Photo: MINDEF Singapore)
A TCOM aerostat in the 55-meter class will provide air and maritime surveillance in Singapore. (Photo: MINDEF Singapore)

Recent new export orders for aerostat-mounted surveillance systems have encouraged TCOM to suggest that the market share for lighter-than-air (LTA) systems is expanding, at the expense of conventional airborne solutions. The American LTA specialist company is providing a large, radar-carrying aerostat to the Singapore Ministry of Defence early next year, and also recently logged orders for smaller aerostats from neighboring Malaysia. TCOM also provides the very large aerostat for the JLens airborne threat detection system that is entering a three-year evaluation by NORAD on the eastern seaboard of the U.S.