The first ATHENA jet breaks cover: an overview of the latest U.S. Army spy jets (updated)
The first clear photos of the first ATHENA jet have emerged online after the U.S. Army restructured the program of their latest contractor-owned and operated spy jets
This post has been updated to include the first two photos of the first painted ATHENA jet. If you have already read the post, the new information can be found at the bottom of this post.
Amid program delays and revamps, the first ATHENA jet started a series of test flights in early March 2024. Shortly afterwards, the director of the U.S. Army's ISR Task Force shared the first clear image of the Global 6500 jet, showcasing its large radome and SIGINT sensor suite. The ATHENA program is the bridging phase between the ARES and ARTEMIS platforms and the final HADES jets, and will consist of four Global 6500 bizjets with radar and SIGINT capabilities. Delays and supply-chain issues led to a restructuring of the program, but initial flight tests are now well underway ahead of delivery later this year.
Note: read the post below if you want to learn the basics about the capabilities, acronyms, and mission types of these ‘bizjets of war’
The Army Theater-level High-altitude Expeditionary Next Airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ATHENA) program is the bridging phase between the contractor-owned and operated ARES and ARTEMIS jets, which are already flying operational missions, and the final HADES platform (click here if you want to read more about these other programs). When the ATHENA contracts for the four modified Global 6500s were awarded to the MAG Aerospace-L3Harris team and SNC, the program was structured into two components: ATHENA-R and ATHENA-S. The first phase, ATHENA-R (Radar) was planned to house a DoD-provided radar system and a SIGINT suite. Delivery to the U.S. Army was set for January 2024, but supply chain and program issues have resulted in delays. In parallel, the U.S. Army assessed that both ATHENA variants require both SIGINT and radar capabilities, leading to the service dropping the ‘-S’ and ‘-R’ variants and no longer prioritising the delivery of one ‘variant’ over the other. The first ATHENA jet will be deployed to South Korea, joining ARES deployed to Japan and several other COCO ISR bizjets in the region. While the specific deployment areas of the other ATHENA jets are unknown, two airframes will presumably be deployed to the Indo-Pacific theatre and the other two to Europe. Besides the clear threats, the assumption that ATHENA will join the ARTEMIS jets in Europe is also based on an announcement from last year that stated ATHENA-S will ‘‘support U.S. Army missions in the U.S. European Command area of responsibility.’’ However, the program revamps and the ever-changing ISR needs of the U.S. military may have changed those plans, or will do so in the future.
The first flying ATHENA airframe (reg. N591SR), developed and modified by the MAG Aerospace-L3Harris team, started a series of test flights out of Waco, Texas, earlier this year. The still unpainted Global 6500 is equipped with flight test sensors to validate the aerodynamic characteristics of the airframe with its new external modifications. Also, the flight patterns (so far) do not indicate any tests of onboard SIGINT and/or radar sensor systems and match with ‘standard’ test flights.
The first photos of the ATHENA jet taken during the test flights show its exterior modifications mostly match with a previously released render of the MAG Aerospace-L3Harris concept for the final HADES platform. The ATHENA jet is equipped with a large canoe fairing which will be or already is housing a synthetic aperture radar with ground moving-target indication (GMTI) and dismount indication capabilities. As the heavily modified Global 6500 jet was initially set to become one of ATHENA-R jets, it was planned to be equipped with a DoD-provided radar system. However, it is unknown whether this changed during the program revamp or whether the jet has already received the radar system in the first place. Also visible in the photos are a series of blade antennas underneath the nose and wings as well as the fuselage (see photos below for close-ups). The layout of these antennas is almost a perfect match with the HADES concept render and is part of the SIGINT sensor suite of the ATHENA platform.
Conclusion
The first ATHENA jet is currently in a test flight campaign out of Waco, Texas, after the U.S. Army restructured the program and dropped the ‘-S’ and ‘-R’ variants. More test flights can be expected in the coming months, as well as new ATHENA airframes breaking cover when they start their test campaigns. When the design of the exterior modifications is validated, the jets will likely be painted and receive the complete sensor suites. In the final phase before operational missions, the ATHENA jets will complete a final test campaign to calibrate and verify the onboard SIGINT and radar sensors.
After delivery in late 2024, the first ATHENA aircraft is expected to be deployed to South Korea to monitor North Korea and China. The other jets will likely deploy to Europe soon after and join the ARTEMIS jets (and military aircraft) to monitor Russian movements along NATO’s borders as well as other (potential) adversaries in the region. The new ATHENA jets will further expand the testing of new technologies and operating concepts for the U.S. Army’s HADES program. As the U.S. military and its allies shift focus to (near-)peer adversaries, the ATHENA jets will be yet another example of the increasing capabilities and relevancy of ISR bizjets in this era of (renewed) great power competition.
Thank you
Thanks to SR_Planespotter for the amazing images and thank you for reading this post! As always, feel free to reach out with your thoughts, questions and/or suggestions for future posts. If you have information or photos, you can always contact me via DMs (@bizjetsofwar on all platforms) and/or send an email (see the About page). You will always stay anonymous and the information/photos will not be shared without explicit approval, but please do not send information you are not allowed to share.