Jane Edwards
Bombardier Defense secured a U.S. Army contract in December to provide a Global 6500 aircraft in support of prototyping efforts under the service branch’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System program.
The firm-fixed-price contract awarded by Army Contracting Command includes options for two additional aircraft over a period of three years, the service said Wednesday.
The HADES aircraft prototypes are designed to provide deep sensing and aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities against adversaries in multidomain operations.
In 2020, the Army started buying from defense companies aerial ISR as a service in the form of aerial technology demonstrators, which work to provide data on sensor integration, platform performance and data distribution to the military branch and the joint force.
The service expects the first aircraft to be delivered on Oct. 1.
In October, L3Harris Technologies, Leidos and MAG Aerospace formed an industry team to compete for the HADES program.
