Turn-over Ceremony of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS)

The Philippine Navy (PN) will receive the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), a self-sustained, unmanned Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) systems donated by the United States government in a formal turn-over ceremony at the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), San Antonio, Zambales with US Deputy Embassy Chief of Mission to the Philippines Michael Klescheski and Philippine Navy Flag Officer In Command, Vice Adm. Joseph Ronald S Mercado gracing the event.

It is expected to enhance the PN’s capability in Maritime Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance by effectively detecting maritime and air traffic within the country’s coastal waters using sensors. Moreover, it will also be utilized in the conduct of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) operations.

The TARS also includes a weather station that provides telemetry data to the ground station for the monitoring of ambient temperature, pressure, wind speed and other pertinent parameters in the operation of the system.