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  4. CBP Launches the Tethered Aerostat System in Puerto Rico

CBP Launches the Tethered Aerostat System in Puerto Rico

Release Date
Fri, 05/09/2014

LAJAS, Puerto Rico - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Air and Marine officially launched Friday the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS) within its previous location in the southwestern coast of the island. 

“By restoring the Tethered Aerostat Radar System program, CBP will have an additional asset to continue our collaborative operations and partnerships with other Federal, State and Local law enforcement in the Caribbean,” stated Johnny Morales, Director of Air Operations for the Caribbean Air and Marine Branch. 

CBP recently assumed responsibility for the TARS from the U.S. Air Force (USAF). In August 2011, the former TARS crashed near its location in the municipality of Lajas, due to severe weather. 

The aerostat-borne surveillance system—operating in the U.S. since 1978 and in Puerto Rico since the late 1980s—provides radar detection and monitoring of low-altitude aircraft and surface vessels along the U.S.-Mexico border, the Florida Straits, and the Caribbean Sea and Mona Passage. 

USAF and DHS personnel began the formal transfer of the TARS program, contracts, and operations responsibilities in March 2013. On July 1, 2013, CBP assumed official program and contract management responsibilities and have assumed all funding requirements in fiscal year 2014.

The program consists of eight TARS aerostat sites with six along the Southwest Border (Yuma and Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.; Deming, N.M.; Marfa, Eagle Pass, and Rio Grande City, Texas) and additional sites in the Florida Keys and Puerto Rico.

The TARS will augment fixed radar systems that currently support the Caribbean Air and Marine Operations Center (CAMOC),  a component of CBP’s Office of Air and Marine, that provides detection, monitoring, sorting, tracking and coordination of law enforcement response to suspect airborne and maritime activity at, beyond and internal to our nation’s borders.

The Office of Air and Marine (OAM) is the world’s largest aviation and maritime law enforcement organization, and is a critical component of CBP’s layered enforcement strategy for border security. OAM is uniquely positioned to provide direct air and maritime support to multiple agencies and to ensure the success of border protection and law enforcement operations between ports of entry, within the maritime operating areas and within the nation’s interior.

High quality photos are available on CBP Flickr Albums - Aerostats Added

B-roll available on  http://dvidshub.net/r/94oqts

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

Last Modified: Feb 03, 2021