WASHINGTON / TEL AVIV — Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and its radar systems subsidiary, ELTA Systems, have officially launched the POINT@AIR mobile, aerostat-mounted air defense radar. Unveiled at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) 2026 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington, D.C., the platform provides elevated, persistent early-warning surveillance against low-flying aerial, maritime, and ground threats.
Derived from IAI’s long-standing ELM-2083 aerostat radar architecture, POINT@AIR downscales the heavy infrastructure of strategic balloon radars into a rapid-deployment, tactical tactical asset. Designed for continuous operation up to 30 days, the elevated platform overcomes terrain mask limits, low radar horizons, and curvature obstacles to detect low-altitude uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles, and loitering munitions.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: IAI ELTA POINT@AIR (ELM-2083A) AEROSTAT RADAR 
* Developer & Systems Integrator: Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) / ELTA Systems Subsidiary
* Public Unveiling Event: AUSA 2026 Annual Meeting & Exposition (Washington, D.C.)
* System Architecture & Sensor Hardware:
* Radar Array: Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) operating across azimuth and elevation
* Coverage Profile: Combined 360-degree mechanical rotation and electronic beam-steering
* Operational Heritage: Scaled tactical variant derived from the ELM-2083 early warning aerostat radar family (L-band baseline)
* Deployment & Operational Capabilities:
* Persistence: Up to 30 continuous days of airborne surveillance per deployment cycle
* Mobility & Infrastructure: Self-contained, vehicle-towed or containerized mooring setup requiring no fixed ground infrastructure
* Target Discrimination: Simultaneous multi-domain tracking and automated threat prioritization for air, sea, and land targets
* C2 Connectivity: Integrates directly into tactical air defense Command and Control (C2) networks and multi-sensor sensor-fusion nodes
* Mission Roles: Counter-UAV (C-UAS), low-altitude cruise missile early warning, border surveillance, forward operating base (FOB) overwatch, and critical infrastructure defense
