Boeing’s trouble’s keep multiplying ….
The Intel gathering stuff IS going away from Boeing…
What do militaries and the rich and famous have in common? A taste for business jets.
- Aircraft once the domain of world-touring rockstars are now being converted into spy planes of the future, outfitted with sensors that discern electronic signals, troop movements and more.
Why it matters: Just like Ukrainians building drones from parts found online, more buyers are turning to everyday outlets to beat supply-chain woes and red tape.
Driving the news: The U.S. Army in August picked Sierra Nevada Corporation to lead its High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System program, part of an overhaul of the service’s aging intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleet.
- The 12-year contract is worth almost $94 million up front, but could total nearly $1 billion in the long run.
- The backbone? A commercially available Bombardier Global 6500 jet — not a niche airframe that will take a decade to develop (and might still disappoint).
Bombardier’s aircraft serve as the basis for many more military programs. They include:
- Hades predecessors known as Artemis and Ares, which have flown a combined 1,000-plus sorties across Europe and the Indo-Pacific. (Artemis kept tabs on Russian buildup.)
- The Air Force’s Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, colloquially known as “WiFi in the sky,” which relays critical communications.
- GlobalEye, an airborne early warning and control platform configured by Swedish defense firm Saab.
- Germany’s Pegasus, a signals intelligence fleet.
What they’re saying: “We’re very much trying to present that this is not a one-trick pony,” Steve Patrick, Bombardier Defense’s vice president, told me. “This is a Swiss Army knife that can have multiple different capabilities as the needs evolve.”
- Lines already up and running make all the difference, he added. The company foresees no problems satisfying demand.
- “It’s not like we have to go and launch a whole new set of production orders to build the airplanes.”
Catch up quick: Motivating the Army’s pivot to jet-based spying is a shortfall observed in 2014, as Russia clawed at Crimea….
image…A pair of GlobalEye airborne early warning and control aircraft. Photo: Courtesy of Saab
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