(Amerika) United States Army

[Schneemann]

US Army seeks contractors to deliver 11 Bombardier Global 6500-based spy planes

For more than five decades, the US Army’s airborne intelligence mission has relied on turboprop aircraft circling patiently over the battlefield. That era is now drawing to a close. A newly issued Request for Information (RFI) shows the Army preparing to replace much of its legacy Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) fleet with high-altitude, long-range business jets, a shift driven by the demands of modern warfare and near-peer competition.

At the centre of that transition is the Army’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES), a next-generation ISR programme built around the Bombardier Global 6500.

According to the RFI, the Army is seeking information on the acquisition of up to 11 aircraft to support HADES, part of a broader objective of 14 systems when prototypes are included. The move marks a decisive break from aircraft such as the RC-12X Guardrail, MC-12 EMARSS and EO-5C ARL-M, platforms derived from the Beechcraft King Air that have served since the Cold War but now struggle to survive and perform in contested airspace.

https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/us-...-aircraft/

Schneemann