To improve border security and support the regional security operations of coalition forces in Afghanistan, the government of Afghanistan will soon install a new security system near the Spin Boldak border crossing in Kandahar province.
The Persistent Surveillance System (PSS), which consists of an unarmed aerostat (a blimp) with mounted camera equipment, will allow Afghan National Security Forces and Pakistani security forces to monitor the border region more effectively. The blimp near Spin Boldak will be one of several within close proximity of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
It is flown on a tether at more than a thousand meters to enable around-the-clock surveillance of an area. Coalition officials in Afghanistan have notified Pakistani authorities about the blimp installations and fully briefed them on their mission and purpose. In addition, coalition officials are working in co-operation with Pakistani security forces to enable sharing of surveillance imagery collected from the blimps to aid in strengthening border security.
Safety mechanisms aboard the blimps prevent any rapid or uncontrolled descent due to an unlikely weather or technical malfunction. The blimps carry no weapons and are flown at an altitude that puts them out of range of most weapons, to include small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades.-PR
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