U.S. Army Selects Sierra Nevada Corp. To Build ISR Fleet

RENO, Nevada—The U.S. Army on Aug. 22 selected Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) to build its future fleet of high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft in the culmination of a unique acquisition approach that has the service operating prototypes ahead of even setting requirements.

It is also the second-largest contract in SNC’s history, behind its award for the U.S. Air Force’s Survivable Airborne Operations Center in April, and the biggest for the privately owned, midtier company’s Mission Solutions and Technologies (MST) sector, company leaders tell Aviation Week.

“We have sort of thrived on this underdog role in terms of the entire David vs. Goliath sort of scenarios. However as we’ve stepped up in class, we’ve continued to build capability and to show that we can scale at pace,” says Tim Owings, SNC’s executive vice president for the MST business area. “I think what that’s going to mean going forward is that as we are continually being accepted as a big prime, you’ll see us go after bigger and bigger things.”

The award for the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System is a 12-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $991.3 million. The initial award is $93.5 million. SNC will be the lead systems integrator for HADES, installing sensors and other equipment on a fleet of government-provided Bombardier Global 6500s.

The Army has said it plans to fly a fleet of 14 of the aircraft, with one Global 6500 already ordered and an option for two more. The HADES aircraft will fly up to 51,000 ft., carrying 6,500 lb. of mission equipment for 12 hr. of unrefueled flight endurance. The payload will provide deep sensing and targeting information for the service’s long-range fires.

SNC beat a team of L3Harris, Leidos and MAG Aerospace for HADES. SNC and MAG already had been selected to build four prototypes as part of the program, called the Army Theater-Level High Altitude Expeditionary Next Aircraft (Athena). Joshua Walsh, SNC’s vice president of mission solutions and operations, said the first of its two Athena aircraft is wrapping up production and expected to begin flight testing in October. The second is about one month behind. SNC plans to deploy the aircraft early next year to provide real-world intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as a contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) fleet.

Additionally, the Army is operating two other COCO prototype fleets that help set the overall requirements for HADES. Two Leidos-owned Airborne Reconnaissance and Targeting Multimission System (Artemis) aircraft are deployed to Europe, and the L3Harris-owned Airborne Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare System (ARES) is deployed to Japan.

SNC plans to hire 50-100 more personnel at its Hagerstown, Maryland, facility for HADES, Walsh says. The aircraft will use sensors the company produces at its Sparks, Nevada, headquarters along with software from a location in North Carolina.

HADES and Athena aircraft will be about 85% common, with slight differences in sensors, says Tim Harper, SNC’s vice president of business development.

In addition to HADES and Athena, SNC has been selected by Finland’s Border Guard to deliver two aircraft. These Rapcon-X jets will be configured Bombardier Challenger 650 aircraft tailored to Finland’s specifications, the company says.

Harper says the global market is “wide open” for similar aircraft, both through Foreign Military Sales and direct commercial sales.

Nevada-based SNC made a gamble on the Army’s plans, spending $280 million to buy and modify two Global 6500s ahead of the Athena and HADES competitions. Owings says that is an advantage of being privately owned—the company can move quickly and make bets early.

“Really it’s driven by what’s important from a mission perspective,” he says. “If we clearly understand the direction of our customers, we’re more than willing to invest in those areas, and so that’s what we’ve been able to do.”