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TCOM offers the world’s largest selection of proven aerostat solutions that counter the tactical, operational and strategic threats faced by our customer-nations.
End-to-end systems engineered for any environment.
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We provide our customers with innovation, responsiveness and best value by leveraging our advanced technology, skilled workforce and over 40 years of proven experience.
TCOM advancements continue to define the industry.
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TCOM is the proven global leader for innovative, cost-effective Airborne Persistent Surveillance solutions protecting national security in the world’s most demanding operational environments.
TCOM aerostat systems are Soldiers of the Skies.
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Expanding airborne persistent surveillance horizons efficiently and economically, TCOM systems detect potential threats by air, over land, and by sea, providing actionable intelligence in a timely manner.
TCOM makes persistent surveillance affordable.
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Airships
Sea Based Aerostats
74M Aerostats
71M Aerostats
Platforms
Tactical, Operational and Strategic Solutions Designed to Meet Any Mission
Maintaining continuous aerial security is a daunting task. Threats such as low-flying, extremely fast aircraft can take advantage of the earth’s curvature and exploit terrain obstructions. This renders ground-based radars unable to provide target information in time to take appropriate action. Slow, low flying missiles with a small cross section may also avoid early detection and pose a significant threat. Manned aerial surveillance can decrease the risk for short periods of heightened alert, but the operational costs are much too high for extended use. To meet this airborne coverage challenge effectively and inexpensively, TCOM developed the 71M Low Altitude Surveillance System. With over 1,000,000 hours of operation these systems are the only operational airborne defense assets to routinely provide the continuous round-the-clock, low altitude target detection information needed to secure the skies.
Case Study: RAID
Under the darkness of night in Iraq and out of range of ground-based sentries, enemy fighters were able to creep in undetected toward forward operating bases (FOB) and posts where U.S. forces were deployed. Intent on launching mortar attacks or implanting explosive devices designed to disrupt operations and kill U.S. soldiers, they posed a deadly and pervasive threat. The U.S. military needed a reliable surveillance system that could foresee impending danger and give military commanders the actionable intelligence needed to prevent and intercept attacks.
To counter this threat, the U.S. military turned to trusted partner TCOM to provide tethered aerostat systems that delivered persistent surveillance and communications needed to detect and neutralize the attackers before they could carry out their missions. The first use of tethered aerostats in this application came under the innovative RAID (Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment) program. RAID made use of the TCOM 17M tactical aerostat to carry electro/optical and infrared payloads to gather intelligence around the clock and communications payloads to provide accurate surveillance information in real time.
RAID utilized EO/IR sensors, radar and flash and acoustic gunshot detectors to provide persistent, panoramic surveillance of the covered areas, providing timely warning of potential threats and other valued intelligence. Combined with the surveillance towers (G-BOSS), the aerostat systems provided essential situational awareness necessary for improved security and daily operations in and around the FOB.
The RAID program was so successful that many more 17M tactical aerostats were soon pressed into action across forward operating bases throughout Iraq. Since its initial deployment in 2003, over 60 aerostat systems and more than 300 RAID systems have been deployed as part of the Persistent Surveillance and Dissemination Systems (PSDS2) currently in use in Iraq and Afghanistan. This program has been credited with saving many lives and has also led to the development of the TCOM 22M and 28M operational aerostat systems for use in Iraq and Afghanistan where challenging operational environments required larger platforms. Most importantly, RAID established the value of the tethered aerostats to support U.S. Military on the battlefield and has led to the unprecedented use of aerostats in to support and enhance U.S. military operations worldwide.
Case Study: Italy
During the Bosnian Conflict, Italian Security Forces were faced with the problem of stopping the flow of illegal immigrants and contraband that was frequently being smuggled from the Balkans, across the Otranto Strait, then inland from the Italian coast. Smugglers used compact, quick moving small boats and rafts. The use of Italian Navy ships to patrol the straits and detect and apprehend these smugglers was far too costly and inefficient.
Italy turned to TCOM, a global leader in aerostat-borne surveillance solutions, to deliver an affordable, persistent sea surveillance system that would provide comprehensive monitoring of the Otranto Strait and Italian coastline. The system, identified as SAACS (South Adriatic Aerostat Coastal Surveillance System), used a TCOM medium-sized aerostat configured with a multi-mode search radar, a stabilized day/night camera suite and a V/UHF transceiver. The radar provided the early long-range detection and tracking of the small targets and cued the camera to provide timely actionable intelligence which was transmitted to remotely-located Navy command and control centers, and to Navy Patrol Ships nearby.
TCOM’s SAACS provided total domain awareness, which enabled Italian Government law enforcement officials to be waiting on shore to apprehend the immigrants as they waded in from the small vessels. The aerostat-borne persistent sea surveillance system also provided the Italian Navy with the information that allowed them to efficiently apprehend the smugglers on their return trip to the Balkans. This challenging mission was accomplished for a fraction of the cost of naval operations, or manned airborne surveillance. TCOM’s affordable persistent sea surveillance system became a critical component to Italian maritime defense. Today, TCOM mid-size aerostat systems continue to provide affordable round-the-clock coastal protection in trouble spots worldwide.
Turnkey Installation
Support from Start to Finish
TCOM provides single point responsibility for the overall system performance and continuing aerostat support essential for the reliable and consistent performance of the Aerostat Surveillance System.
After the system has successfully completed all its formal testing at our Manufacturing and Flight Test Facility, it is shipped to the customer. TCOM’s Field Operations & Support (FOS) group, supported by TCOM’s headquarters design and systems engineering groups, provides the in-country expertise for on-site installation, on-the-job training and integration into existing networks.
The Turnkey Installation Solution Includes:
- Site survey, design and construction
- Installation of the aerostat subsystems that make up the aerostat system
- Integration of the aerostat system with the site infrastructure
- Payloads integration including providing connectivity with the customer’s command centers and data/communications network
- On-site formal classroom training and/or on-the-job-training (OJT)
- O&M support as required
- Logistics support to integrate spares and support equipment into a tracking database
Experienced Personnel Ensure Success
TCOM FOS pools of field engineers have trained and experienced personnel with the skillsets to supply a turnkey aerostat support solution from installation and checkout (I&CO) of the system to when the system is handed over to the customer for operation and maintenance (O&M). TCOM has installed aerostat systems in more countries than any other aerostat system manufacturer.
Manufacturing
Advanced Aerostat Manufacturing Facilities
TCOM produces the most advanced, state-of-the-art and reliable aerostat systems in the world. This is accomplished by having the latest aerostat manufacturing technology, equipment, facilities and tooling to bring our advanced designs to life. We offer capabilities and experience manufacturing aerostat and airship flex structures, mooring stations, avionics, tethers and ground support equipment.
Complete Systems Manufacturing
TCOM is the only LTA Company in the world that has a facility devoted to aerostat manufacturing, airship manufacturing, assembly, flight test and training operations – all in a single location. We manufacture the world’s largest aerostats and are capable of manufacturing, inflating, rigging, and testing them all while protected from the weather inside our hangar. We also perform integration and flight testing onsite at our new flight pad. Our aerostats are manufactured using highly engineered, TCOM-designed base fabric. The fabrics are then seamed together using specialized equipment designed by TCOM for the sole purpose of building our flex structures. Once assembled, they are air inflated and tested, then inflated with helium. After helium inflation, the hardware and rigging is installed which prepares the aerostat for integration with the rest of the system.
Our new, state-of-the-art mooring station manufacturing facility is conveniently located adjacent to the hangar. All assembly and testing of the mooring stations is conducted in this central facility. Prior to integration with the aerostat and surveillance components, the mooring stations are passed through a rigorous acceptance procedure to ensure all functionality. Once the mooring structure, boom, tower, and other major portions are assembled together, integration of the machinery, electrical and hydraulic systems takes place. The system’s avionics are also designed and manufactured by TCOM in an environmentally controlled area located at the headquarters facility. After all the components are procured and inspected, material kits are put into the shop for assembly and unit testing. TCOM employs a highly trained and experienced staff dedicated to wiring all the electronic items for the aerostat, mooring system and ground station. In addition, we build swivel slip-rings and perform tether termination and break testing, and perform thermal cycling and stress testing.
Once all of the electronics components have passed unit test, they are assembled together as a functional system and fully tested against rigorous acceptance standards. If payloads are available, they can be integrated at the electronics manufacturing facility or later with the complete system at the hangar. After the aerostat, mooring system, and avionics subsystems are completed, they are integrated together at the new flight pad, located at the Manufacturing Flight and Test Facility. Flight tests then begin as the complete system functionality is tested.
Quality Assurance
The Elizabeth City aerostat Manufacturing and Flight Test Facility enables TCOM to provide customers with an unparalleled level of quality assurance, training, ongoing operations and field support services. This facility has become the East Coast hub for all airship maintenance and assembly activities. The ability of TCOM to manufacture complete systems, rather than just sub-assemblies, provides us the flexibility to change quickly when needed to accommodate our customers’ needs.
Pioneering Achievements
A Legacy of Aerostat Innovation:
The name TCOM is synonymous with the aerostat and with airborne persistent surveillance. Over the past 40 years, TCOM engineers have introduced countless innovations including advanced materials, clean room construction, modern payload integration techniques, reliable ground based power systems and simplified ground control equipment. Our ongoing advancements continue to revolutionize LTA system design and manufacturing techniques. TCOM aerostats are the standard to which all others aspire. Here are just a few reasons why:
Pioneering Achievements:
- First to use laminate materials for aerostat fabrics
- First fiber-optic powered tether system
- First tether to double as LF communications antenna
- First aerostat provider to offer customized payloads and mooring systems
- First lightning protection systems for tethered aerostats
- First fully integrated modular mooring system
- First modern aerostat system to broadcast radio and TV
- First aerostat to carry electronic payloads for US-allied foreign nations
- First sea-based aerostat system
- First aerostat system to remain deployed for missions of 30 days or longer
- First aerostat in theater supporting both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom
- First and only company to deploy an aerostat at an altitude of 20,000 feet above ground station
- Produced largest aerostat ever in operation
- Longest ongoing aerostat surveillance operations
Tradition of Performance:
From the shores of the Adriatic to the glaciers of the Arctic, from conflict zones of the Middle East to the border regions of the United States, TCOM airborne persistent surveillance solutions provide actionable intelligence from an elevated perspective. Our surveillance systems have served as vital components in applications as disparate as television and radio broadcasting, drug traffic interdiction, illegal immigration prevention, communications intelligence, air defense surveillance, electronic intelligence, troop and vehicle monitoring, and insurgent detection.
TCOM persistent surveillance systems can be customized for deployment over air, land or sea. The complete systems provide total domain awareness, improving mission effectiveness and efficiency. In every environment, TCOM systems provide mission-critical details in time for decision makers to take appropriate action.