Menet Aero provided variable height antenna (VHA) support to 10th Mountain DVIARTY elements during a May 2024 JRTC rotation at Fort Johnson, LA. The event was part of a Hunter EMS training and experimentation series, and this event was the first exercise in the series to employ a tethered unmanned aircraft system (TeUAS) as a variable height antenna (VHA).
Menet Aero Intrepid systems simultaneously flying Bats Wireless antennas and cloud relay Persistent Systems MPU5s were positioned throughout the exercise area, extending range using line of sight and non-line of sight communications in a multidomain environment.
Despite 22-31 mph wind gusts, the Intrepid systems flew 8 hours per day and provided a 48 km link between supporting locations without interruption. When winds became increasingly unfavorable, the decision was made to remove BATS antenna and fly the S-band MPU5 with discount omni antenna attached on the Intrepid. This configuration also successfully established the 48 km communications link between supporting locations.
The exercise reinforced the strategic advantage of using TeUAS as reliable and resilient as retransmission platforms to increase the range of line of site (LOS) communications. The Intrepid system enables long range LOS point to point communication while simultaneously supporting the airborne use of other payloads such as EMS sensors or full motion video cameras.