US helping Kenya shop for airship to spy on terrorists

The US government is helping Kenya to buy floating airships that the East African nation needs to conduct surveillance missions in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and smuggling of contraband goods, the Business Daily has learned.

The airships, also known as aerostat or blimp, are lightweight aircraft that use balloon air — helium gas — to float and are fitted with infrared cameras that capture a sweeping aerial view of an area that can be used to make response decisions.

Kenya is seeking to acquire the aircraft through the US Department of Defence’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme, which is shopping for the machines in the US market.

The US Department of Defence says on its website that Kenya has placed an order for a 28-metre aerostat with a 1,000-pound payload (weight).
“The purpose of the aerostat(s) is border security,” the US says in a notice inviting bids from security equipment providers on behalf of Kenya.

Security experts said that the aerostat’s surveillance capability is much higher than that of a drone because the floating airship can stay suspended in the air for much longer without refuelling.

The spy balloon also covers a wider area compared to the drone and can stay aloft even with bullet holes.

They, however, have a weakness in the fact that they can only be brought down by tethers that are known to snap during a heavy storm, causing complete loss of control.

Kenya’s northeastern border with war-torn Somalia currently lacks control posts, leaving it vulnerable to smuggling and unchecked human traffic — a situation criminals have used to stage ambushes and retreat into the neighbouring country.

The latest purchase order comes a year after Kenya went shopping in the US for a drone dubbed, ScanEagle, which it is expected to receive by September.

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The unmanned aircraft will conduct real-time surveillance on Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorists alongside monitoring other major crime scenes within Kenya’s borders. Nairobi-based security expert Andrew Franklin said that the spy balloons cost much less than drones.

Kenya’s order for one unit of ScanEagle spy aircraft from US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is estimated to cost the taxpayer about Sh1 billion.

Mr Franklin said the aerostat has been effectively used to gather information about criminals, pre-empt attacks and catch terrorists red-handed as they plant booby traps and improvised explosive devices (IED).

He said American troops have used the balloon in Iraq and Afghanistan to spy and foil attacks by Islamic militants.

“Such a device provides valuable support to border control measures such as fence lines, watch towers, ground patrols, tactical drones and observation aircraft,” said Mr Franklin, citing the need for early warning operators, real time communications networks and smooth coordination with ground combat troops.

Little impact

He, however, cautioned that deploying the airship on its own without effective ground plans would produce little impact.

“Deployed on its own, without an effective border control system, the aerostat will be collecting information that will never be used. It is a security enabler not a replacement,” he said.

Kenya has suffered a spate of deadly bomb and gun attacks on civilians and soldiers by the Somalia-based Islamic militants who are demanding the withdrawal of Kenyan troops from the country.

Mr Franklin said the spy balloons would enable Kenya to collect and relay real time images to control centres for action.

The aerostat system is transportable and equipped with electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) cameras and radio re-transmission equipment, according to the US defence department.

It can be put in the back of a truck and inflated with helium gas at strategic locations.

Our efforts to establish the exact costs and the number of the airborne ships ordered from Kenyan authorities were unsuccessful. The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) referred the Business Daily to Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka who had not replied to our text and email queries by the time of going to press.

The Interior Ministry, headed by Cabinet secretary Joseph Nkaissery, was allocated Sh140.6 billion in the new financial year that started on July 1, placing it among the biggest recipients of taxpayers’ cash. The money is earmarked for border security upgrade, police modernisation and motor vehicle leasing.

Mr Franklin reckons that efforts to strengthen security agencies in the fight against emerging threats were welcome but needed a sizeable amount of transparency.

Kenya’s security organs have recently raced to boost their firepower and intelligence gathering capacity to combat emerging threats.
The East African nation early this year expanded its armoured personnel carriers (APCs) stockpile with the purchase of 30 carriers from China at a cost of Sh7.9 billion to be used by police for patrols.

The US defence department’s window for companies to place bids for the Kenyan aerostat system closed on June 17.

Our efforts to find out which firm clinched the deal were unsuccessful as our email queries to the department went unanswered.

US security firms Lockheed Martin and Raven Aerostar are among the possible suppliers of the aerostat.

Asked whether the technology is used in other African nations Mr Franklin said Tunisia, which recently finished the construction of border fences with dedicated security forces along its border with Libya, was a possible candidate.

“Unless the government implements the Somalia border control project, this sort of acquisition is pretty much a waste of money. Local security cannot be enhanced in the absence of well-trained, equipped and organised security units to make use of information from the blimp,” Mr Franklin said.
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