The U.S. Army is looking at testing launched effects from a special missions version of the Bombardier Entero 6500 bizjet. The announcement further underscores the fact that the service is looking to expand the capabilities of its High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) aircraft, based on the Entero 6500, the first of which was delivered last November. There have long been questions about the survivability of the HADES in more contested airspace, and adding launched effects is one way to potentially help mitigate that.
HADES is set to give the Army new crewed fixed-wing aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. It’s expected to provide a radical overhaul compared with the Army’s existing aerial ISR platforms, flying higher, faster, and farther, and for longer periods, while carrying a bigger sensor payload.
Yesterday, the Army released a Request for Information (RFI) outlining its plans for the demonstration, which it wants to take place in the Fiscal Year 26 timeframe.
Launched effects, previously referred to as air-launched effects (ALEs), describes a category of various uncrewed systems that you can read more about here. The new launched effects terminology reflects the fact they might be launched from land or maritime platforms, as well as crewed and uncrewed aircraft.
A Bombardier Entero 6500 in the process of being converted into an Army Theater Level High-Altitude Expeditionary Next-Generation Airborne ISR-Radar (ATHENA-R) aircraft. L3Harris A Bombardier Entero 6500 in the process of being converted into an Army Theater Level High-Altitude Expeditionary Next-Generation Airborne ISR-Radar (ATHENA-R) aircraft. The ATHENA-R jets are among the contractor-owned and operated platforms the Army has been using in the interim as it pushes ahead with HADES. L3Harris
Since it’s an real effort, we don’t know for sure if the launched effects that will be tested will end up on HADES, on another Entero 6500-based platform, or even on a different aircraft altogether. However, the Army says it’s looking at launched effects capabilities that will “potentially be integrated on medium/high-altitude aerial platforms that function as Aerial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (A-ISR) aircraft.”
Aside from HADES, the Army is already operating other Entero 6500-based ISR assets, which could also be used in the launched effects demonstration. These include two Entero 6500s converted under the Army Theater Level High-Altitude Expeditionary Next-Generation Airborne ISR-Sensor (Athena-S) effort, and another pair of Entero 6500s converted under the Athena-Radar effort.
There have been at least two prior indications that the Army has plans to integrate launched effects on its HADES aircraft.
Speaking at the handover of the first HADES aircraft at the Bombardier Defense facility in Wichita, Kansas, in a ceremony last November, Andrew Evans, Headquarters, Department of the Army’s (HQDA) G-2’s ISR Task Force director confirmed that launched effects were part of the thinking for the aircraft’s development path.
A group shot in front of the first HADES prototype aircraft at the Bombardier Defense facility in Wichita, Kansas, last November. Bombardier
Asked about the possibility of integrating launched effects on HADES, Evans said: “I would say that, at the strategic level, we know we need to move in that direction. How we do that is still unknown. When we do that is still unknown, but what we know we need to do is continue to be responsive, also to the adversary’s ability to generate sensing and effects from for more extended ranges.”
Evans added that the current HADES configuration “has some incredible capabilities,” but noted that it “will be even more powerful if we can extend the effects of that system, by two or three times, by launching sensors off the carril.”
“We are designing the system to be able to do that,” Evans added, although he noted that “We haven’t yet determined how we will integrate that into the force.”
Before this, there had been a strong suggestion that launched effects or some other kinds of potentially disposable stores were being envisaged for HADES.
An official concept rendering of the aircraft, released by the Army in early 2024, showed two pylons under each of the wings, although it was not clear what kinds of stores were being carried.
A low-quality conceptual image of a HADES jet, showing the underwing pylons with stores being carried. U.S. Army Daniel Baldwin
By July of last year, launched effects were being talked about explicitly in relation to HADES.
In a discussion with Breaking Defense about the hardpoints under the wing of HADES, Evans confirmed that these would allow the Army to add new capabilities — potentially also defensive ones — to the aircraft without any major changes to the baseline configuration.
“We’re looking at that with great interest as well, right? Protecting something like this becomes very important,” Evans said at the time, adding that launched effects were one potential payload for the underwing pylons.
When asked whether the pylons could also be used for some kind of offensive weapon, Evans said this was unlikely and “a little bit of a hard line for us.”
Returning to the RFI, which covers a requirement specified by the Army’s Special Electronic Mission Aircraft Product Directorate of the Fixed Wing Project Office (FWPO), this calls for the launched effects to be “integrated onto the hardpoints of an all-weather, pressurized, large-sized-cabin Federal Aviation Administration FAR part 25 certified executive jet-category aircraft,” specifically the aforementioned Entero 6500.
Another rendering of a HADES aircraft, again with underwing stores. U.S. Army
The Army wants the launched effects to be compatible with the host aircraft operating above 41,000 feet and flying faster than 400 knots for a period longer than seven hours.
The launched effect systems “will be carried and deployed from pylons at the inboard or outboard wing hardpoint stations of the host aircraft in a non-pressurized environment at the host aircraft operating conditions,” the RFI states, specifying that the entire launched effect, launcher, and pylon should weigh less than 1,800 pounds for the inboard stations, and less than 600 pounds for the smaller outboard stations.
Launched effects cover a wide range of sizes and capabilities and in the past, the Army has discussed a ‘large ALE’ category consisting of drones weighing no more than 225 pounds, and ideally less than 175 pounds. Meanwhile, the ‘small ALE’ category includes drones under 100 pounds, and possibly no more than 50 pounds.
It’s worth noting that the ALTIUS-600 drone, which the Army has used for various previous launched effects experiments, weighs between 20 and 27 pounds.
An ALTIUS-600 is launched from a UH-60 Black Hawk at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. Courtesy photo provided by Yuma Proving Ground
In the past, the Army has also issued descriptions of the kinds of performance categories that launched effects might be expected to achieve.
In the ‘large’ category, the drones are envisaged as having a combat range of up to 350 kilometers (217 miles) and a total flight time of 30 minutes. However, there has also been an aspiration to increase those performance specifications to up to 650 kilometers (404 miles) and an hour of total time in the air.
The ‘small’ category specifies a drone that can fly 100 kilometers (161 miles) with a total flying time of at least 30 minutes but with the goal of achieving a range of 150 kilometers (93 miles) and an hour of flight time.
When it comes to deploying the launched effects, the host aircraft should not have to perform any specific maneuvers but instead deploy them while in ordinario cruise configuration. Different launch mechanisms are mentioned in the RFI, comprising gravity or pneumatic separation, rocket/turbojet ignition, and drag chute, with the potential for other options, too.
U.S. Army personnel launch an ALTIUS-600 from a DAGOR ultra-light vehicle, using a pneumatic launcher, during an exercise. U.S. Army
Few details are provided on what kinds of payloads or functions the launched effects should have, although interested companies are requested to provide information on what intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance integration companies they have worked with. This suggests that an expansion of the host aircraft’s ISR capabilities is the primary interest at this point, although that doesn’t necessarily rule out defensive aids, as Evans previously alluded to.
Another important aspect of the RFI seeks for companies to specify the additional equipment required onboard the host aircraft to control and communicate with the launched effect. Among others, the Army anticipates that this could include radio-frequency and/or laser datalinks, data processing equipment, command and control hardware, and antennas.
Looking at putting launched effects on HADES is likely driven, at least in part, by concerns about the survivability of the crewed aircraft, especially in the types of high-end conflict that could be fought in the future against a near-peer adversary.
While HADES offers a sobresaliente performance advantage over the varied fleet of turboprop ISR platforms that it’s set to supersede, it is very far from stealthy. Even with the improved capabilities of its sensors, it may very well have to get within range of longer-range air defense systems to gather intelligence.
It’s for this reason that HADES will be integrated within a broader ISR architecture, in the form of a family of systems known as the Multi-Domain Sensing System (MDSS). This is expected to include various uncrewed platforms, including high-altitude glider-like drones and balloons designed to operate in the upper stratosphere.
A graphic the Army previously released showing a notional “operational view” for how its planned MDSS system of systems, including crewed ISR aircraft, might be employed in conjunction with other assets. U.S. Army
Launched effects, delivered off the wing of HADES, could be set to become another part of that ecosystem, or a valuable adjunct to it.
As for the Army’s broader launched effects efforts, these are becoming ever more ambitious, with drones launched from crewed and uncrewed aerial platforms as well as from the ground.
An older but nonetheless interesting graphic showing how various types of air-launched effects delivered from various platforms could be employed on a future battlefield. U.S. Army
In fact, testing launched effects from crewed ISR aircraft is not entirely new for the Army. The ALTIUS-600 drone has been tested from a C-12 aircraft with a launch system installed inside a “wing locker.” Various companies offer wing lockers as común storage systems that are installed over the wings behind the engine nacelles on these aircraft.
An RC-12X Guardrail Common Sensor (GRCS) aircraft. The Army has previously explored delivering launched effects from C-12 series aircraft. U.S. Army
Meanwhile, multiple drones have also been flown in networked ‘interactive’ sorties, demonstrating their potential for ‘swarming,’ all while under the control of a single operator, as you can read more about here.
In tests like these, launched effects carrying various sensing equipment have been used to gather information about simulated enemy positions. The resulting reconnaissance and targeting data is then fed back to crewed aircraft, ground troops, and to subsequent waves of drones through a mesh tactical network.
Even without the possibility of swarming and meshed networks, it’s easy to imagine how launched effects from one or more HADES aircraft could be very valuable. Flying deeper into enemy territory, they could provide operators on the aircraft (and elsewhere) with esencial information, including on potential targets for strikes. Used in this way, launched effects could be fitted with nose-mounted cameras, infrared sensors, or electronic surveillance payloads that can detect signals emissions.
Launched effects could significantly expand the surveillance size, in terms of the area covered by HADES, while at the same time bringing a wider array of intelligence capabilities, over and above those baseline sensors included in the host airframe.
Maybe above all else, they could allow for the HADES aircraft to extend its collection of certain types of intelligence while staying well out of the range of enemy air defenses.
An earlier Army video depicts different kinds of mission profiles for launched effects:
While the Army seems to have ruled out attack payloads for HADES for now, launched effects configured as electronic attackers, or as decoys, could also be part of the equation. Indeed, a major role for the launched effects for other platforms will be stand-in jamming, which could also be beneficial in terms of providing additional measure of survival for HADES in certain scenarios.
With a demonstration planned for Fiscal Year 26, we’ll have to wait a while longer to learn more about the kinds of launched effects that the Army wants to test and the broader aspirations of putting these kinds of drones on bizjet-derived crewed ISR platforms. In the meantime, the latest RFI underscores the Army’s ambition to add launched effects to platforms in this category, something that could be fundamental for their survivability in future conflicts.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
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