Bombardier Defense delivers first Global 6500 ISR to U.S. Army for HADES program

Bombardier Defense announced the delivery of the first Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft to the U.S. Army. The ceremony took place at Bombardier Group headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, and marks an important milestone under the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) program.

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#BmbardierDefense reached another significant milestone in #Wichita, KS with the official delivery of the #Global6500 aircraft to the @USArmy as part of the HADES program, aimed at modernizing their #ISR capabilities. @ISRTaskForce @JerryMoran pic.twitter.com/avkEHA1LTb

— Bombardier (@Bombardier) November 27, 2024

““Bombardier Defense is honored to support the U.S. Army with the delivery of the first Global 6500 aircraft, a high-performance platform that possesses the speed, endurance-at-range and altitude capabilities to support deep-sensing for the Army of tomorrow,” said Steve Patrick, Vice President of Bombardier Defense. “This best-in-class jet is the future-proofed solution to provide the U.S. Army with the capabilities needed to face current and future threats.” .”

HADES is the centerpiece of the U.S. Army’s intelligence collection strategy, and the Global 6500 is the system that brings that strategy to life.

“This aircraft gives us the range, payload capacity, speed and endurance to deliver timely, relevant and responsive capabilities for the full spectrum of Army and Joint collection requirements”, said  Andrew Evans, Director, HQDA G-2 ISR Task Force.

According to Bombardier, the Global 6500 brings multiple advantages to military forces, standing out for its reliability, wide operational range and ability to extend areas of operations. With a maximum range of up to 18 hours and a maintenance interval of up to 750 flight hours, the aircraft belongs to the renowned Global family, which boasts an impressive 99.83% dispatch reliability rate. These features make the Global 6500 an optimal choice to meet demanding operational objectives, such as depth sensing.

These HADES prototypes will be the first U.S. Army-owned wide-cabin business jets designed for Intelligence, Surveillance and Aerial Reconnaissance (ISR) operations. They will offer advanced deep-sensing capabilities essential for conducting multi-domain operations against comparable or near-peer adversaries.

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The aircraft will then be modified by Sierra Nevada Corp. to its ISR configuration with relevant mission equipment. Sierra Nevada won the contract for the HADES program, beating out a team consisting of L3Harris, Leidos and MAG Aerospace.