To boost its aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, the US Army has selected Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to convert a business jet into a deep-sensing spy plane.
On August 22, the US Army selected SNC as the lead system integrator for its High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES).
The initial award on the 12-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract is $93.5 million, with an overall ceiling of $991.3 million.
HADES
Under the HADES program, SNC will integrate advanced sensing technologies into the Bombardier Global 6500 business jet.
This initiative will enhance airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities as the service transitions from its older turboprop aircraft fleet.
HADES will provide transformational increases in speed , range, payload, and endurance for Army aerial ISR capabilities.
“This is a great day for the continuing effort to modernize the Army’s aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance collection strategy,” said Doug Bush, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology.
“The thoughtful and disciplined execution of the HADES program strategy will deliver the transformational capabilities we need for the Army’s next-generation aerial ISR aircraft.”
“HADES is the centerpiece of the Army’s long-promised aerial ISR transformation strategy,” said Lt. Gen. Anthony Hale, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2.
“HADES allows the Army to fly higher, faster and farther, which directly impacts our ability to see and sense deeper, delivering an organic capability in line with the Secretary of the Army’s number-one operational imperative – deep sensing.”
Faster speeds, longer flights
With higher airspeeds and longer endurance, HADES will facilitate aerial ISR coverage for a much larger geographical area. It will facilitate global deployment within days instead of the current transitional period of several weeks.
This will adversely affect adversaries’ ability to plan and maneuver.
The Army began shaping the HADES program in 2020 to replace the legacy turboprop aircraft fleet, which currently comprises the Guardrail Enhanced Medium Reconnaissance and Surveillance System and Airborne Reconnaissance Low aircraft, which have been in service for more than four decades.
HADES prototypes will be the first Army-owned large-cabin business jets utilized for aerial ISR platforms.
“I am very proud of the entire HADES team, along with our intelligence, aviation and contracting enterprise partners, who have worked diligently to ensure that the Army delivers a new aerial ISR collection capability that meets the Army’s 2030 operational imperatives,” said Brig. Gen. David Phillips, Program Executive Officer, PEO Aviation.
“HADES will allow our formations to see and sense farther and more persistently, providing an asymmetric advantage over our adversaries in large-scale operations and multidomain operations.”
As the Army transforms to meet an uncertain future, HADES is one of the many modernization capabilities that will help ensure that the Army of 2030 is ready and able to fight and win when the nation calls.
In April, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) received a $13 billion contract from the US Air Force to manufacture a replacement for the 1970s E-4B Nightwatch planes in the National Emergency Airborne Command Post role.
According to SNC, the new Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) contract is expected to run through July 2036.
The program will replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of four E-4B planes, known as Nightwatch or the National Airborne Operations Center. These planes typically transport the Defense Secretary but can also act as mobile nuclear command and control outposts.
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