L3Harris Highlights Over 70 Years of Business Jet Missionization, Including EA-37B, ARES and RAF Sentinel Programs
Why It MattersThe disclosure underscores how specialized missionization integrators convert existing business jet airframes into long-lived, mission-specific military platforms rather than relying on purpose-built aircraft.
L3Harris Technologies has positioned itself as a leading integrator of mission systems on business jet platforms, citing more than 70 years of experience across aircraft from over 10 manufacturers including Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault and Gulfstream. The company has logged more than 800,000 labor hours on Bombardier Global series aircraft alone, holds an FAA Organizational Designation Authority since 1982, and operates as an FAA Class 4 Unlimited Repair Station.
Among its programs, L3Harris served as platform integration prime for the EA-37B Compass Call, moving the EC-130H Compass Call mission system into a Gulfstream G550 at its Waco, Texas missionization center. It also missionized the ARES aircraft, a Bombardier Global series platform supporting the U.S. Army's HADES program, in less than six months, and earlier integrated the UK Airborne Stand-Off Radar system onto a Bombardier Global Express for the Royal Air Force Sentinel R1, work approved by the UK Defence Procurement Agency in January 2004. The RAF Sentinel flew 32,300 hours over roughly 4,870 sorties during its service life, beginning in Afghanistan after the September 2001 attacks.
Other programs include the MC-55A Peregrine, being integrated with electronic warfare capabilities for Australia, and the JAMMS program supporting the Italian Joint Intelligence Center and Italian Air Force. L3Harris's facilities include nearly two million square feet of climate-controlled hangar space and a Multi-Sensor Test Facility with anechoic chambers and over-the-air testing from 1 MHz to 40 GHz across a 100,000-square-mile FAA-approved area.
