U.S. Army Adds Fourth Global 6500 Jet to HADES Intelligence and Surveillance Program.

Sierra Nevada Corporation has purchased a fourth Bombardier Global 6500 jet with its own funds to support the U.S. Army High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System program. The move pulls key certification and integration milestones forward as the Army transitions away from legacy turboprop intelligence aircraft.

U.S. Sierra Nevada Corporation announced on January 13, 2026, that the company has purchased at its own expense a fourth Bombardier Global 6500 business jet intended for the U.S. Army’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) program of record. The aircraft is framed as the first non-prototype jet for the future aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleet, a schedule-protecting move meant to pull certification and integration milestones left while reducing supply chain and modification risk. In practical terms, SNC is betting private capital to keep the Army’s deep-sensing transition on pace just as the service closes the chapter on legacy turboprop airborne ISR.
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High-altitude, long-range Bombardier Global 6500 ISR jet configured for the U.S. Army's HADES mission, combining deep-sensing radars, advanced signals intelligence, and onboard AI-driven processing to deliver fast, theater-level targeting and multi-domain situational awareness far beyond legacy turboprop platforms (Picture source: SNC).

The Global 6500 is a high-end commercial platform that brings exactly the attributes the Army has been missing in the Guardrail era: altitude, speed, electrical power growth margin, and cabin volume for mission systems. Bombardier lists a range of 6,600 nautical miles for the Global 6500, a figure that reshapes how quickly an Army ISR detachment can reposition across theaters without the slow logistics drumbeat of turboprop ferry legs. The jet’s high-speed and high-altitude envelope, including operations up to 51,000 feet, directly expands sensor horizon for many collection modes and improves survivability through standoff. That envelope matters because modern “deep sensing” is not just about better antennas and radars; it is about getting those sensors high enough, with enough endurance, to see and persist.

HADES, as the U.S. Army describes it, is the answer to a hard operational reality: near-peer competition compresses decision time while pushing threat systems farther back. The Army has been explicit that deep sensing requires more capable sensors and the ability to fly higher, and that the legacy fleet was constrained by speed, range, altitude, power, and payload. The program’s foundations were laid in 2020, with divestment of turboprop ISR platforms beginning in fiscal year 2023 and concluding in fiscal year 2025. The first fully developed HADES prototype is expected in fiscal year 2026, followed by a second in fiscal year 2027. SNC’s investment aligns with that tempo, as the first of three prototype aircraft under modification is scheduled for delivery into Army operational service in 2026. These prototypes are designed to reduce risk through a modular open systems architecture that supports rapid sensor integration and future upgrades.

The near-term calendar is tightening. The Army’s first HADES prototype aircraft is expected to begin flight testing this spring, with the first Global 6500 fully outfitted for the HADES mission delivered in the fall to support operational testing under a government-owned, contractor-operated construct. That testing model is significant. It accelerates iteration by allowing the integrator to control aircraft availability, crews, and maintenance, while the Army concentrates on tactics development, sensor employment concepts, and integration into operational networks.

HADES is intended to do what the Army’s retiring platforms could not achieve at scale: deliver theater-level sensing capable of feeding long-range fires and joint targeting at speed. The system promises transformational increases in speed, range, payload, and endurance to support Multi-Domain Operations. While many payload details remain classified, the direction of travel is clear. HADES is expected to combine wide-area ground moving target indication and synthetic aperture radar for detection and precision cueing with advanced signals intelligence for emitter geolocation, pattern-of-life analysis, and network mapping. SNC has also stated that artificial intelligence and machine learning will be embedded to accelerate onboard processing, exploitation, and dissemination, turning the aircraft into a rapid “sense-to-understand” node rather than a slow collector dependent on rear-area analysis.

The contrast with what the Army has historically operated is stark. Guardrail, ARL-M, and EMARSS provided valuable service, but their turboprop foundations limited altitude, power, and growth potential. The Army has bridged gaps with contractor-owned jets such as ARTEMIS, ARES, and ATHENA-S, the latter explicitly described as a precursor to HADES using similar business-jet platforms and mission concepts. What changes with HADES is not only performance, but also institutionalization. It is a program of record built around a production-standard architecture intended to accept payload refreshes without wholesale redesign as new threats and waveforms emerge.

Cost and industrial posture are the other critical dimensions. Public reporting places SNC’s role under a long-term Army contract potentially valued at up to $1 billion over 12 years, even as debate continues over final fleet size, with figures ranging from a relatively large buy to proposals for a much smaller force. Against that uncertainty, SNC’s decision to self-fund an additional airframe is a calculated hedge. It keeps the modification line active, advances certification work, and signals confidence that the Army will require operational jets regardless of final quantities. SNC has stated it has self-invested nearly half a billion dollars across programs supporting the Army’s airborne ISR transition and that multiple jets are currently in its facilities undergoing modernization for global ISR missions.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.