Army Awards Contract for HADES Prototyping Efforts

The U.S. Army Contracting Command-Redstone Arsenal, in coordination with the Army Fixed Wing Project Office, awarded a firm-fixed-price contract to Bombardier Defense (Learjet Inc.) on December 12, 2023, the Army announced today in a published press release. This contract procures one Global 6500 jet aircraft with options to purchase two additional aircraft over a three-year period. These aircraft will support prototyping efforts for the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, also known as HADES.  

These HADES prototypes will be the first U.S. Army-owned large-cabin business jets utilized for aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, and will provide advanced deep-sensing capabilities for use in multidomain operations against peer and near-peer adversaries, the press release explained. The delivery date for the first aircraft is October 1.

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

In preparation for the HADES program of record, the Army began purchasing aerial ISR as a service in the form of aerial technology demonstrators from defense industry vendors in 2020. The demonstrators provide data about platform performance, sensor integration, sensor performance and data distribution to both the Army and the joint force. The demonstrators also allow the Army to better understand the doctrine, training, personnel, facilities and sustainment required to employ these more capable sensors and aircraft that HADES will provide, the release added.