Washington: After the 100-day protest window closes on the US Army’s new HADES spy plane contract, the service will deliver the first Bombardier Global 6500 business jet to the Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Hagerstown, Md., facility for sensor and systems integration work to begin, according to an Army senior official.
“We have to be cognizant that every performer that competes for work has the right to protest if they would like to protest,” said Andrew Evans, the director of the Army’s ISR Task Force. “We will wait to see how the other performers for [the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System] HADES respond to the government’s award. If there’s a protest, we’ll get through that period and the GAO [Government Accountability Office] will make a decision about what the future of the award looks like.”
On August 22, the service announced it had selected SNC for the coveted HADES deal worth up to $991.3 million over 12-years, with the initial pot totalling $93.5 million for work on two crewed planes. Given the size of the contract, and the proclivity of defence contractors to protest in hopes of overturning government awards, it makes sense for the Army to be cautious. But it’s not totally clear who might protest.
As it was an open competition, it’s unclear how many contenders were also in the race for the HADES contract, though several other firms had been involved in precursor Army programs. One major contractor, L3Harris, confirmed that they bid on the contract but had not yet decided how to proceed.
“We are disappointed with the Army’s decision and believe our team is best positioned to meet the HADES requirement,” a company spokesperson said. “L3Harris has decades of airborne ISR experience, including successfully providing solutions for the Army’s ATHENA-R and ARES programs. We look forward to gaining additional understanding during the debrief process.”
If the Army’s deal proceeds as planned, Evans said the service will deliver the first Bombardier plane to SNC in the October-November timeframe. The expectation is that work on that first HADES plane will be completed within 14 months, or the end of 2025, in anticipation of an operational assessment in 2026.
