TCOM Unveils New Surveillance System

By CHRIS WHIPPLE
Thursday, August 25, 2005

WEEKSVILLE –
TCOM's unmanned, helium filled surveillance balloons are capturing more than a peek across borders. They're also garnering international attention for the Weeksville based production facility.

On Wednesday, TCOM unveiled a modified version of its tethered, unmanned balloon system already in use in Afghanistan and Iraq by the U.S. military. This particular small, mobile system is destined for Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Fully equipped, it sells for about $1.5 million.

The system uses a vehicle that's a modification of the truck that the U.A.E. army uses to climb sand dunes and cross deserts. The new system, which can be fully deployed by a four man crew in about two hours, enables the balloon to be transported off road into the rugged border territories of the Middle East.

TCOM manufactures the balloons in four standard sizes. The smallest, like the ones being touted Wednesday for their all terrain capability, are 17 meters long. TCOM also makes aerostats that are 32 meters, 38 meters and 71 meters long. The U.S. Army is already using about six of TCOM's 17 meter long aerostats in Iraq and could be placing orders for more after recently announcing plans to expand its balloon program.

The U.A.E. isn't the only Middle East nation with an interest in what's going on at TCOM. The Kuwaiti government is purchasing one of the gargantuan, 71 meter aerostats. Now in the final stages of production at the TCOM hangar, the aerostat is the length of a 747 jet and white as a wedding dove. The Kuwaitis plan to use it for border security.

Inside the TCOM blimp hangar Wednesday, members of the Kuwaiti Air Force trained with local TCOM workers on how to use the new technology.

All of this is good news for TCOM, said Stephen E. Silvoy, the company's vice president.
The 16 additional systems the Army has ordered, plus 16 backup balloons, have increased the work force at TCOM's hangar. The Weeksville facility has increased its work force from 52 employees to 90 to meet an April deadline for delivery, Silvoy said.

Including those purchased by Israel and other allies, about 20 TCOM aerostat surveillance and communication relay systems are operating in the Middle East, Silvoy said. The aerostats are used to lift tons of high tech surveillance equipment into the sky around military bases, borders and other hot spots to increase their effective scanning range.

TCOM, which is headquartered in Columbia, MD, is in the process of developing another aerostat that wilt be twice the size of its largest product. The 140 meter balloon will operate above the jet stream, Silvoy said.

Silvoy said one of the key concepts of national security is "persistent surveillance" the ability to
constantly keep an eye on one's neighbor. The trouble is, the expense of doing that can be tremendous.

What's brought the military balloon back to the front lines of modern warfare, Silvoy said, is the fact that they are cost effective surveillance platforms.

"There is a huge requirement to sit on your border and watch over your neighbor," Silvoy said, "Twenty four hours a day, day in and day out. How do you afford that? You can't do it flying airplanes."

Silvoy said the aerodynamic balloons his company manufactures have been elevated into that role. And the program is saving lives, he said, in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East. "It's something that feels good to be a part of," Silvoy said.