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US Military to Test New Spy Business Jet

Jan 7, 2024

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The US Military is prototyping a High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES), which will be developed on a Bombardier Global 6500 jet aircraft.

This aircraft by Bombardier Defense will be the first instance of the US Army using a large-cabin business jet for prototypes for their Aerial Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms. These prototypes are expected to offer advanced deep-sensing capabilities to aid multidomain operations against adversaries.

According to Interesting Engineering, adversaries like Russia and China pose significantly greater challenges than technologically inferior adversaries of counterterrorism, forcing the US military to modernize its capabilities and concepts. HADES will provide coverage for mid-tier unmanned systems and extend up to the stratosphere.

Colonel Joe S. Minor, project manager for Army fixed-wing aircraft, said: “HADES will bring the Army increased range, speed, endurance, and aerial ISR depth. 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.”

The military explains that in order to prepare for the HADES program, it has been purchasing aerial technology demonstrators from defense industry vendors since 2020, which in turn provide important data about platform performance, sensor integration, sensor performance, and data distribution. Furthermore, these demonstrators help the military to better understand the doctrine, training, personnel, facilities, and sustainment necessary to employ the similar but more capable sensors and aircraft that HADES will provide.

This move by the US military forms part of a larger effort called MDSS: Multi-Domain Sensing System, which aims to modernize aerial intelligence systems, utilizing high-altitude balloons, jets, and fixed-wing solar gliders or systems.