The U.S. Army is back on track with development of its High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) spy plane, following setbacks that involved prospective contractors for the program.
It was recently revealed that a protest from contractor L3Harris was officially denied by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), setting the pace for production to resume under the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC).
Part of the Army’s recent efforts to modernize its capabilities, HADES will be customized for meeting 21st century intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) needs by replacing Cold War-era turboprop aircraft, leveraging advanced jet propulsion that rises to the challenges of the modern multidomain environment.
The GAO’s decision clears the path for SNC to continue its conversion of Bombardier Global 6500 business jets into modernized ISR platforms that can deliver the speed, range, and flexibility incapable of being attained with legacy aircraft used for intelligence collection.
AMerica’s New Spy Plane: A Strategic Need Decades in the Making
Initially developed during the Cold War, the Army’s existing ISR fleet has undergone adaptations over the years that help it to meet the needs of modern missions that primarily include counterterrorism efforts. However, the 21st century warfare environment has presented increasingly demanding new challenges for the spy plane fleet of yesteryear, such as disrupted communication networks and efforts by adversaries to deny access to allied installations.
Amid such challenges, HADES will employ high-altitude long endurance jets that can perform deep sensing missions, featuring expanded payload capacity that will help facilitate operations even in degraded communications environments.
Demonstration Success with ARTEMIS and ARES
A core component of the HADES program involves the integration of the HADES system amid outdated platforms in use by the U.S. military. To achieve this, the Army will lean on the capabilities of Aerial Technology Demonstrators (ATDs) like ARTEMIS, which is based on the Challenger 600 jet, and ARES, which draws from the design of the Bombardier Global Express 6500 jet.
Each of these aircraft are equipped with state-of-the-art intelligence collection equipment designed for use with electronic, communications, and signals intelligence sensors, and equipped for dispatching intelligence and other data to commanders in real-time. Additionally, the jets are capable of being equipped with a range of different sensor types, allowing them to utilize the capabilities of multiple providers.
ARTEMIS has already seen success during its deployment in the Indo-Pacific and Europe, where the platform succeeded in providing critical intelligence across vast regions without the need for having multiple staging areas. ARES, by contrast, remains the more advanced demonstrator, and has displayed the height of the Army competitive edge in high-stakes environments with enhanced altitude and persistence capabilities that make it ideal for use in deep sensing missions.
Operational and Strategic Advantages
Compared with the mission focus of other ATDs deployed by the Army, the HADES program will shift from tactical to strategic intelligence, marking a notable development in the Army’s evolving ISR operations. While newer platforms like ARES meet the top priorities of combatant commanders, they also provide access to additional support for a broader range of U.S. government needs.
Primarily, these ATDs help to facilitate collaboration between agencies, such as the Army’s coordinated operations with the National Security Agency. Such missions often require the delivery of large amounts of intelligence in a short amount of time to ensure that commanders are able to make informed decisions during their critical operations—something that has often required the use of multiple staging locations.
“No longer will the Army require multiple bed-down locations to access regional hotspots,” Lt. Col. Matt Paladino, aerial chief of the ISR Task Force for the Army Military Intelligence Staff, said last year. “A single aircraft with the speed and range of HADES can provide thousands of miles of reach from a single bed-down site, forward deployed.”
The HADES program met a road block in October, following a protest from L3Harris over SNC’s selection for the program contract. Last month, the GAO’s ruling, initially reported by Breaking Defense, upheld the Army’s previous evaluation of proposals which cited SNC’s “outstanding” technical ratings and overall cost-effectiveness in their contract assessments.
The L3Harris proposal, by contrast, was deemed “unacceptable” on several counts, and despite allegations made by the company over the corporate structure of its competitors at SNC, the GAO ultimately ruled that there were no grounds for the former’s protest.
A New Spy Plane and the Path Toward the Future
Despite the recent setbacks, previously the Army has said it planned to procure at least 14 HADES aircraft, with the process starting in fiscal year 2024 and the first deliveries to be expected sometime in 2027. The HADES jets will offer the Army the ability to consolidate operations in fewer geographic locations, along with providing enhanced training and mission command capabilities.
In a little under a decade, the HADES fleet should be fully operational, and by 2035 is expected to equip the Army with an unprecedented fleet capable of strategic intelligence needs that will meet the demand of the coming several decades, much like their Cold War predecessors have done.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.