The Army is purchasing a large-cabin business jet from Bombardier to support the development of the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, or HADES, for intelligence gathering. The new intelligence collection effort involves the Global 6500 jet and is the Army’s first-ever purchase of a jet in this category. The jet will be used for airborne reconnaissance and to gather targeting data to support the Army’s advanced precision missiles. Two planes, ARTEMIS and ARES, were considered, and the Global 6500 jet was selected for its longer range of 6,600 nautical miles.
The Army currently operates aging turboprop planes for airborne intelligence collection, but business jets have the ability to sense farther and more persistently into areas of interest due to their higher flying altitude. The Challenger 600 jet has been patrolling the skies near Ukraine as part of the ARTEMIS program and has reportedly contributed to U.S. intelligence sharing on Russian military command posts, which has helped Ukraine target and kill Russian generals.
