Israel Aerospace Industries Unveils Advanced Balloon-Mounted Radar System
Translated & summarized from Arutz Sheva by baba
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will debut its new POINT@AIR radar system, mounted on a compact balloon, at the AUSA 2026 exhibition in Washington. The system offers 360-degree detection of air, sea, and ground threats, with a particular advantage in identifying low-altitude targets. It provides enhanced situational awareness and rapid deployment capabilities, allowing military forces more time to respond to emerging threats.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled its new POINT@AIR radar system, mounted on a compact balloon.
- The system provides 360-degree detection of air, sea, and ground threats, including low-altitude targets.
- POINT@AIR offers rapid deployment and continuous operation without the need for fixed infrastructure.
- IAI CEO Guy Barlev stressed the importance of comprehensive situational awareness for effective defense.
- The radar builds on IAI's ELM-2083 family, enhancing early threat detection capabilities.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is set to unveil its new POINT@AIR radar system this week at the AUSA 2026 security exhibition in Washington. This advanced radar, mounted on a compact balloon, is designed to detect and track threats from the air, sea, and ground with 360-degree coverage. A key advantage of the system is its ability to identify low-altitude threats, overcoming limitations faced by ground-based radars due to terrain obstacles like mountains and buildings. The balloon platform provides an extended line of sight for earlier detection.
The POINT@AIR system can simultaneously identify and track multiple aerial, maritime, and ground targets, prioritizing them based on operational importance. It integrates active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology for long-range detection and continuous tracking, combined with mechanical rotation for full 360-degree coverage without requiring fixed infrastructure. This allows for rapid deployment and continuous operation, making it suitable for areas needing high operational flexibility.
IAI CEO Guy Barlev emphasized that situational awareness is crucial for effective defense, stating, "The ability to see and understand the combat space is the starting point for any effective defense. The more continuous and comprehensive the situation picture, the better forces can understand what is happening, anticipate threats, and operate with confidence." He added that IAI continues to develop next-generation capabilities that expand situational awareness, offering customers broader vision, operational flexibility, and more reaction time.
Dror Bar, CEO of Elta and IAI Vice President, highlighted that the main challenge in developing the system was not just miniaturizing the radar but maintaining its advanced operational capabilities. "The challenge was not just to adapt a radar to a smaller platform, but to maintain advanced capabilities while creating a compact, mobile, and flexible system that can be rapidly deployed and adapted to the mission," he explained. The system builds upon IAI's operational ELM-2083 radar family, aiming to provide forces with a significant advantage in early threat detection and response time.
