A former UK Royal Air Force Sentinel R.1 reconnaissance aircraft made a surprise appearance in the static park at last weekend’s Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT). Based on the Bombardier Global Express business jet, five of them were supplied by Raytheon UK in 2007-08. The RAF prematurely withdrew them last year due to budget cuts, and the Ministry of Defence advertised for a contractor to dismantle and dispose of them.
But Raytheon Intelligence & Space has stepped in and bought the fleet. It intends to offer them for sale or, equally possible, for lease in a contractor-owned, contractor-operated arrangement. The U.S. Army has become interested in an ISR aircraft of this size following the U.S. Air Force’s decision to retire the E-8 JSTARS radar reconnaissance aircraft.
The Sentinels featured an active-array radar that provided synthetic aperture imaging and moving target indications. The Army now flies a single Bombardier Challenger 650 modified with radar imaging and ELINT sensors. It has deployed the aircraft in Europe and has monitored the Ukraine War, being operated under contract by Leidos, formerly known as Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Now the Army is proposing a program of record named HADES (High Altitude Detection and Exploitation System), which would constitute a multi-sensor platform.
Raytheon plans to fly the former Sentinels to Wichita, Kansas, for airframe checks, and then to Tucson, Arizona, for mission system checks in its own facility.