LAKEHURST NAS, N.J., 20 May 2011. U.S. Army surveillance and reconnaissance experts needed tethered aerostats on which to loft intelligence and surveillance sensor payloads for the third phase of the Persistent Ground Surveillance Systems (PGSS) program. They found their solution from TCOM L.P. in Columbia, Md.

TCOM won a $15 million contract for five of the company's 22M+ persistent-surveillance aerostat systems; five tether-up kits; and various spares, including five tether up spares, seven line replaceable units, five 22M+ envelopes, eight AC tethers, seven DC gondola frames, and three telemetry laptop computers.

The contract, which was awarded on behalf of the Army by the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst Naval Air Station, N.J., was announced Thursday.

The PGSS program mounts a broad variety of persistent-surveillance sensors on tethered helium-filled blimps that float as high as 3,000 feet off the ground. L-3 Communications EO/IR Inc. in Santa Rosa, Calif. L-3 Communications EO/IR Inc. in Santa Rosa, Calif., won an $8.9 million contract for MX-15HDi camera turrets for the third phase of the PGSS program just one week ago.

On the latest aerostat contract, TCOM will do the work in Elizabeth City, N.C.; Columbia, Md.; and Yuma, Ariz., and should be finished by this August.

For more information contact TCOM online at www.tcomlp.com, or the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division-Lakehurst at www.navair.navy.mil/lakehurst.