Aery Launches Special-mission GIV-SP Jet as a Service

Aery Aviation, a Newport News-based Part 135 air charter operator and Part 145 maintenance provider, has launched a special-mission "aircraft as a service" product using highly modified, low-time preowned Gulfstream IV-SPs. Dubbed Raven, the multi-mission platform can be used for a variety of civil and defense missions, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; maritime patrol; electronic warfare; airborne testbed; UAV tracking and jamming; lidar mapping; rocket launch monitoring; and sea search radar.

The company has already modified one GIV-SP with 16 hardpoints—each having milspec connections and additional RF and fiber-optic attachments for future growth—that can accommodate some 40 swappable sensor pods, with configurations based on the mission. In addition, the aircraft has a mechanically-steerable array, positioned just below the nose, capable of scanning the 3 MHz to 18 GHz spectrum. Aery is modifying two other GIV-SPs into Raven platforms.

According to Aery CEO Steve Walton, all engineering, certification, and modification work for this project is being done in-house. While the company could modify and sell special-mission aircraft, Walton told AIN that he prefers to “own, build, and fly” the Ravens and offer them under a more cost-effective, per-flight-hour-priced plan.

Each Raven has four workstations and can collect up to one terabyte of data per hour, Walton said. The modified twinjets also have a 12-hour loiter time.