DOVER – Senator Coons on Tuesday helped celebrate the production of ILC Dover’s 100th Persistent Threat Detection System (PTDS). Chris and Senator Carper got a first-hand look at how the lighter-than-air vehicles, called aerostats, are manufactured at the company’s Dover facility, which opened in the spring of 2010.
While in Afghanistan last February, Chris saw one of ILC Dover’s PTDS vehicles in action. PTDS is a highly effective, combat-proven, aerostat-based intelligence system used for surveillance, reconnaissance and communications in support of force-protection and counter-IED (improvised explosive devices) missions. Used by the U.S. Army since 2004, the systems provide around-the-clock coverage of broad geographic areas for weeks at a time with multi-mission sensors. The height at which they fly and their construction make them difficult targets for ground-based attacks.
ILC Dover is also designing and manufacturing the Resilient Tunnel Plug (RTP), which inflates to isolate sections of transit or rail tunnels in response to an event such as flooding, release of chemical or biological agents, or other threats. The multi-phase project has closely coordinated with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to develop plugs that meet their operational and technical requirements.
As ILC Dover employees and management gathered in front of the RTP, Chris took the opportunity to emphasize that the future of manufacturing is directly tied to quality STEM education. He emphasized that the manufacturing industry plays a key role in the economic recovery of our nation.
As Chris told WHYY, “We’re doing everything we can to make sure that products like these that are invented in Delaware are manufactured in Delaware, and that our schools and our community continue to support high-quality, high-tech manufacturing businesses.”
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