정찰기 봄바디어, 미육군의 HADES 전자정찰기용 플랫폼으로 글로벌 6500 제트기 선정

[위종민]

미육군이 RC-12 가드레일 정찰기를 대체하기 위해 개발중인 HADES 프로젝트의 플랫폼으로 12월 12일 봄바디어의 글로벌 6500 비즈니스 제트기를 선정했습니다. 1대 + 옵션 2대 규모로 계약규모는 6,640만 달러, 옵션 발동시 1억 4천만 달러라고 하네요. 

센서 패키지 개발은 지난 9월 L3해리스와 레이시온이 프로토타입 센서 개발을 수주받았습니다. 

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/01/bombardier-awarded-army-prototyping-contract-for-hades-spy-plane/

Bombardier awarded Army prototyping contract for HADES spy plane - Breaking Defense

Bombardier awarded Army prototyping contract for HADES spy plane

Under the deal, the company will provide one Global 6500 jet with options for the service to buy two more.

By   LEE FERRANon January 03, 2024 at 3:56 PM

A Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft. (Bombardier via US Army)

UPDATED 1/4/2024 at 9:32am to include contract award figures provided by the Army.

PARIS — The US Army announced today it has awarded Bombardier Defense with a contract for what will be among the service’s first business jets-turned-spy aircraft prototypes.

The contract, awarded Dec. 12, is for one Global 6500 jet with options to buy two others to be used for the Army’s HADES, or High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, project designed to replace the RC-12 Guardrail.

“HADES will bring the Army increased range, speed, endurance and aerial [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] ISR depth,” Col. Joe Minor, project manager for the service’s fixed-wing aircraft, said in a statement. “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 Army did not announce a dollar figure tied to the contract, but on Thursday a spokesperson told Breaking Defense the contract award for the first plane is $66.4 million and has a value ceiling of $140 million “which would include the acquisition of two additional aircraft for HADES prototypes.” It’s unclear if other firms will provide additional aircraft for prototyping efforts later.

The Army has been investing in new jet-based (ISR) capabilities since 2020, when it began buying what it called aerial technology demonstrators, the first of which was known as ARTEMIS (airborne reconnaissance and target exploitation multi-mission system), aboard a Leidos jet.

“ARTEMIS was our first attempt at putting sensors on a jet to see how that was employed, and we put it in the [Indo-Pacific Command’s Area of Operation] to see what it could do,” Capt. Jonathan Magee, ISR Task Force aerial planner for the Army Military Intelligence Staff, said in an Army publication in March 2023. “All of it was good at the end of the day. It’s informing the HADES POR, program of record, for what we need in the end.”

In addition to making the rounds in the Indo-Pacific, Breaking Defense previously reported that at the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, ARTEMIS appeared to be taking to the skies in Eastern Europe.

Last month Army Brig. Gen. Ed Barker, program executive for intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors, told reporters that the HADES system was recently approved to move into middle tier acquisition for rapid prototyping.

Phase one of HADES will include two different aircraft with different sensor packages, and the goal is “to demonstrate the flexible aspect of the capabilities themselves and also to understand the best of breed that we want to pursue from a production standpoint,” he added.

As for the sensor packages, in September 2022 L3 Harris and Raytheon were awarded Army contracts for the development of prototype sensors for the bird.

RecommendedArmy preparing for ‘launched effects’ rapid fielding decision based around Altius 700 prototype

Next up will be the first test flight with the fully integrated prototype that will add in the payloads and mission system.

By ASHLEY ROQUE

In its announcement, the Army said the ultimate goal of those prototypes is to “provide advanced deep-sensing capabilities for use in multidomain operations against peer and near-peer adversaries.”

Breaking Defense’s Jaspreet Gill and Ashley Roque contributed to this report.

https://businessaircraft.bombardier.com/en/aircraft/global-6500

[백선호]

고도 51,000 피트까지 올라가서 센서의 수평선을 275 (노티컬?) 마일까지 늘린다고 하네요.

https://cafe.daum.net/NTDS/515G/3743

[위종민]

RC-12의 원본인 비치 킹 에어 시리즈의 최대 운용고도가 35,000피트라고 하네요. 전자장비가 소형화되니 비싸고 좋은 엔진 단 비즈제트가 터보프롭 단 수송가보다 장점이 많은 듯 헙니다.