The US Army is swapping out its Cold War fleet of prop-driven recon planes with ones based on a business jet. Under a new contract, the Army is buying a Global 6500 jet aircraft from Bombardier with options for two more for development prototypes.
Modern armies rely heavily on aerial reconnaissance to carry out their missions, but the US Army is stuck in an all too familiar dilemma. While other technology platforms have surged ahead in leaps and bounds, the Army is still dependent on the Beechcraft RC-12 Guardrail even though the two-engine prop plane festooned with antennas has been in service since 1983.
As part of its High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) program, the Army wants to replace the Guardrail with something more up to date and, for the first time, it wants to use a business jet as the new platform.
Previous testing has shown that by using such jets, the Army will have an aircraft that can fly higher, faster, and with greater range and endurance than the Guardrail, which can only stay aloft for about six hours, with greater comfort to the crew and a quieter cabin. This means that there won't be the need to secure a large number of landing areas near potential hot spots. Instead, the Army will only need one forward-deploy "bed-down" location in a region.
In addition, the new HADES prototypes will have state-of-the-art sensors and electronics for deep-sensing operations that can support multi-domain missions that are becoming increasingly common in today's networked battlefield. The new electronics can be tailored to particular areas and missions. They can also cover a wider range of bandwidths, allowing commanders to eavesdrop on the communications of their counterparts.
According to the Army, the first of the Aerial Technology Demonstrators (ATD) will be delivered in October under a firm-fixed-price contract with Bombardier Defense. These will provide platform performance, sensor integration, sensor performance, and data distribution for the Army as well as allowing personnel to better understand the potentials of the new recon aircraft.
If all goes to plan, the first in-service aircraft will be deployed by 2027, with a fleet of 14 eventually dispersed around the world.
"HADES will bring the Army increased range, speed, endurance and aerial ISR depth," said Colonel Joe S. Minor, project manager for Army fixed-wing aircraft. "HADES will operate at higher altitudes than legacy turboprop platforms. Higher altitudes equate to an ability to sense farther and more persistently into areas of interest. Deep sensing is the Army’s number-one operational imperative for the Army of 2030."
Source: US Army
