New Partnership Advances Airborne ISR Mission Needs for US Army

MAG Aerospace and L3Harris Technologies will provide enhanced Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft in support of the US Army’s Theater Level High-Altitude Expeditionary Next Airborne ISR Radar (ATHENA-R) program.

According to the companies, the ATHENA-R aircraft, converted Bombardier Global Express 6500s with ISR mission capabilities, are designed to close the gap between the Army’s medium- and high-altitude ISR aircraft fleet, providing longer range, greater endurance, more capacity for bigger payloads and standoff ranges, and leading-edge sensor technology.

The ATHENA-R aircraft will support US Army missions in the US Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. 

“This partnership with L3Harris will deliver break-through C5ISR capability to Army combatant commands,” said Joseph Reale, CEO, MAG Aerospace. “MAG’s proven capabilities and extensive experience managing and executing large and complex turnkey ISR programs in the world’s most challenging operational environments enable the MAG/L3Harris partnership to provide the lowest-risk and best-performing solution for the ATHENA-R program.”

The two companies will equip the aircraft with new radar and electronic and communications intelligence capabilities. MAG delivers command, control, computers, communications, cyber and ISR service delivery expertise to bring turnkey disruptive technology to US government and allied customers around the world. L3Harris currently operates a Bombardier Global Series jet as part of its Airborne Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare System (ARES) supporting Army Pacific Command and expands its extensive Army ISR portfolio as part of L3Harris/MAG ATHENA effort.

“We have decades of experience creating, evolving and integrating the type of deep-sensing, mission-tailored technologies sought by the Army, while MAG Aerospace is a premier provider of manned and ISR mission operations,” said Luke Savoie, President, ISR sector, L3Harris. “Experience matters as the Army embarks on this multi-year journey to operational excellence, and our team delivers proven high performance on these types of next-gen platforms. Our engineering, integration and mission operations expertise will provide the Army the ability to accelerate time-to-field for the ATHENA-R program.”