ISTAR: Unmanned Air Systems
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the outcome was of the high-altitude uncrewed balloon tests conducted in South Dakota, USA under Project Aether.
Answered by Luke Pollard
The trials in South Dakota were successful and achieved or surpassed all intended test objectives.
The objectives included:
- Providing 24-hour Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) coverage in high-latitude winter conditions at high-altitude;
- Locating, identifying, and tracking signals, and disseminating data over both Line of Sight and Satellite communications;
- Maintaining continuous endurance at high altitude;
- and
- Enabling airborne handover of ISR coverage between different platforms.
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