element1loop wrote:weasel1962 wrote:An option that a few users are reviewing are aerostats (whether tethered or otherwise). Although it can't fly far, the aerostat provides persistent long ranged AEW over the course of days, and not hours. Maintenance costs etc are far cheaper.
I don't see how aerostats hold station in a +100 knot jetstream flow for days without consuming a whole lot of fuel and requiring a much heavier structure against moderate to severe turbulence. Altitude matters, so flying at lower level is out, and you'd just need 4 times as many aerostats. And now you're flying in even more convective and disrupted air. I don't think aerostats can ever be that solution, nor can they withdraw at 480 knots to survive.
BTW, some of the highest speed and most persistent jetstream flows on earth pass directly over South Korea.
None of the tethered aerostats are designed to operate in 100 knot winds but they are designed to survive in them.
The TARS array in the US with an L-band radar designed for cruise missile defense has a CPFH* of $950.
That's with an onboard 100 gallon diesel generator at 1 gallon/hour consumption for the radar.
Things like JLENS which are tethered powered are better by virtue of larger, more efficient ground-based generators.
The typical appeal of aerostats is that you can re-use variants of existing ground-based radars since they are
only contending with stationary clutter.
A JLENS orbit (Surveillance + FCR) was to be in the $250 million range with a CPFH of $10,000 which was dominated
completely by military personnel costs so YMMV. Typical AWACS CPFH is ~$40,000.
With JLENS you get a dual-band system with FCQ quality tracks so it's really not comparable to, AFAIK, any
AWACS out there.
* Yes..it's a bad metric but it's easier that posting the detail O&S breakdowns.