Helium Transportation Services

The Tethered Aerostats Radar System (TARS) provides for long-range search and track of air and surface targets, providing multi-domain awareness to CBP Air Marine Operations Center (AMOC), Caribbean AMOC (CAMOC), Office of Border Patrol (OBP), United States Coast Guard (USCG), and the U.S. military.

The TARS program is comprised of aerostats, aerostat support systems, radars, weather equipment, communications systems, winch systems, facilities, special purpose vehicles, associated equipment, and personnel necessary to accomplish the mission. DLA Aerospace Energy (DLA-E) provides helium product to TARS’ seven (7), TMSS’ two (2), and TAS’ four (4) operational sites. All sites require gaseous helium, which is stored in helium tube trailers onsite.

Helium provides direct lift aerial support to Aerostat, radar, and other surveillance tools to overcome line of sight constraints to deter illegal activity along the U.S Southern Border, Florida Keys, and portions of the Caribbean. The trailers used to store, transport, and provide helium are required to be available onsite for daily operations, maintenance, lift loss testing and scheduled / unscheduled inflation to ensure Aerostat stays aloft to support 24/7/365 operations.

Based on current and standing operational requirements, TARS estimates an average of thirty- nine (39) roundtrips annually across TARS’ seven operational sites, TMSS two sites, and TAS four operational sites to sustain and maintain Aerostat Minimum Operating Altitude (MOA) and avoid disruption of site operations, causing a potential national security crisis due to site Non-Mission Capability (NMC). The end state will be for aerostat sites to have recurring and on demand transportation support.

Due to the potential national security crisis, critical nature of this requirement, timeline, resources, and cost, CBP immediately requires a vendor that can meet and exceed the Statement of Work (SOW) requirements to pick up, transport, and deliver helium trailers as scheduled and unscheduled to ensure the continuation of TARS operations without delay or interruption.