Pegasus

The best images we’ve seen so far of the German Luftwaffe’s PEGASUS signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft reveal key details of the unique airframe adaptations made to the Bombardier Global 6000 bizjet platform it’s based on. The photos were shared with TWZ by @CorreaPhtgphy, who captured them earlier this year, in Abilene, Texas.

The aircraft, the first of three for the Luftwaffe, made its first flight from Bombardier’s facility in Wichita, Kansas, on October 23, 2024. Initial flight testing is underway in Wichita, with the work being conducted by pilots from the Bombardier Flight Test Center (BFTC).

The centerpiece of the PEGASUS (which stands for Persistent German Airborne Surveillance System) is the Kalætron Integral SIGINT suite from the Hensoldt company. The first PEGASUS initially took to the air without this mission suite, integration of which is being led by Lufthansa Technik Defense, together with Hensoldt and Bombardier Defense.

However, the aircraft already has the various green-colored fairings associated with the PEGASUS sensors. On each side of the fuselage is an oval-shaped fairing, while below the fuselage is a larger fairing with two distinct bulges, fore and aft. Additionally, smaller green areas atop the tailfin and below the wings suggest further antennas may be located here, too.

According to Hensoldt, Kalætron Integral will be a “comprehensive strategic asset for wide-area reconnaissance, mastering the challenges posed by today’s electromagnetic spectrum.” It will be able to hoover up electromagnetic intelligence from hostile radar emitters (ELINT) as well as enemy communications (COMINT). Electromagnetic emissions will be collected with “exceptional accuracy [and] high sensitivity” over frequencies ranging from below 30 MHz to 40 GHz.

Aided by the Global 6000’s relatively high-altitude flight profile, the Kalætron Integral sensors will be able to detect emissions at ranges up to 250 miles, the manufacturer says. This provides the aircraft with a significant standoff capability, helping keep the jet and its onboard operators further away from enemy air defense systems. Still, line-of-sight restricts even the best sensors and enemy air defenses are only going to have longer and longer reach as time goes on.

On the jet, the operators’ job is intended to be made easier through the use of machine learning and AI algorithms. These should help filter through intercepted emissions, prioritizing them, and speeding up the decision-making process. The end result will bring together intelligence gathered from a variety of different platforms in a rapidly updated electromagnetic order of battle.

The origins of the PEGASUS program lie in plans to supersede the German Navy’s former Breguet Atlantic SIGINT aircraft with a more modern platform. The last SIGINT-configured Atlantic, an aircraft type that was mainly used to roam around the Baltic Sea, was retired in 2010.

The original plan was to replace the Atlantic SIGINT with an adaptation of the Global Hawk drone, the RQ-4E Euro Hawk. Five of these drones were planned to be fielded, each equipped with an Airbus-developed SIGINT system known as ISIS.

European aviation authorities repeatedly refused to certify the RQ-4E to fly over the continent. This, combined with major cost overruns and long delays, saw the program abandoned in 2013, after one of the drones had been flown. Plans to sell the one-off aircraft to Canada collapsed, and the RQ-4E is now set to become a very costly museum exhibit.

For a brief time, the German Ministry of Defense looked at buying another Global Hawk derivative, the U.S. Navy’s MQ-4C Triton, which was developed from the outset for civil certification.

That plan was also abandoned, and the German Armed Forces now pin their hopes on the PEGASUS, an all-new crewed SIGINT platform.

At one point, the Luftwaffe had expected to get its hands on its first RQ-4E under the Euro Hawk program in 2012.

Finally, in 2021, Hensoldt was awarded the contract to supply its Kalætron Integral system for three PEGASUS jets, with the first of these aircraft now under flight test.

Once flight tests with the SIGINT suite are completed, further integration work will take place in Hamburg, Germany. Here, Lufthansa Technik Defense will also be in charge of certification.

Already, there are signs that Germany might increase its PEGASUS order to help meet a growing demand for airborne SIGINT products.

Speaking to the media last year, Jürgen Halder, vice-president of airborne SIGINT at Hensoldt, said: “If you look at the current geopolitical situation, even though any [one] aircraft can persistently monitor a vast area, there are unfortunately too many hot spots globally. So, we expect an additional rise [in aircraft numbers] to be coming eventually.”

Halder continued: “Discussions are starting in a very early phase, but it’s apparent that three aircraft are not sufficient, especially if you consider that the Euro Hawk program had already included much higher numbers of aircraft.”

For now, the first three German PEGASUS aircraft are due to be delivered between 2026 and 2028, and to become operational in 2027.

Germany can also look forward to expanding its airborne intelligence-gathering capabilities with the arrival of the first P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. While these eight aircraft will be primarily used for anti-submarine warfare, they can also act in an electronic intelligence collection role, with their standard electronic support measures (ESM) suite able to detect and geolocate enemy air defenses and monitor its overall electronic order of battles. Furthermore, the P-8 lends itself to modifications, such as the host for a secretive radar system, the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor, or AAS, although this has never been exported.

For now, Germany’s PEGASUS further underlines how the Global 6000 series is becoming one of the most popular choices for military special missions adaptations. In September of this year, South Korea confirmed its choice of the Global 6500 as the platform for its new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, as you can read about here. Meanwhile, GlobalEye AEW&C aircraft, based on Global 6000 platforms, have been ordered by Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.

The military success of the Global 6000 series reflects the growing importance of business-jet-type aircraft for ISTAR missions. Platforms like these are becoming increasingly cost-effective, thanks in no small part to steady improvements in jet engine technology, and their popularity has been proven out by the U.S. Air Force, which opted for a Global 6000-based solution for its E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) program.

The U.S. Army, meanwhile, has ordered a Global 6500-based solution for its ME-11B High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES), which will be the service’s next-generation intelligence-gathering aircraft. These modified bizjets will have extensive sensor suites that include the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System-2B (ASARS-2B) and could have the ability to launch drones.

Nevertheless, with all these crewed, bizjet-based ISTAR platforms, there remain very real reservations about their survivability and even their utility during a conflict, especially during the types of high-end warfare that could be fought in the future against a near-peer adversary. Even when provided with external protection, the survivability of these aircraft in more contested airspace is very questionable. At the same time, while new sensors certainly offer improved capabilities, such aircraft may very well have to get within range of longer-range air defense systems to gather useful intelligence.

Overall, growing tensions in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, and the increasing likelihood of NATO nations and their allies having to face peer or near-peer adversaries in future contingencies, mean that there is a particular appetite for platforms that can help keep track of hostile electromagnetic orders of battle and enemy communications. With that in mind, and considering the effi the Global 6000 series and similar bizjet-based solutions look set to find other customers in the special missions realm for the foreseeable future.

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