{"id":14688,"date":"2021-05-27T15:18:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/27\/looking-at-high-speed-isr-jet-capability-us-army-deploys-demonstrator-to-europe\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:26:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:26:45","slug":"looking-at-high-speed-isr-jet-capability-us-army-deploys-demonstrator-to-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2021\/05\/27\/looking-at-high-speed-isr-jet-capability-us-army-deploys-demonstrator-to-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army deploys Artemis demonstrator to Europe, eying high-speed ISR jet capability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 An Army intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance high-speed jet technology demonstrator \u2014 dubbed Artemis \u2014 has deployed to Europe to support the service\u2019s Defender exercise<\/a> and help assess what is in the realm of the possible for future ISR fixed-wing<\/a> capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service has significant obsolescence problems with its current fleet of Cold War-era Guardrail Common Sensor ISR<\/a> aircraft deployed in both South Korea and Europe. The Army has reached a point where it is pulling parts from the boneyard<\/a> to keep the aircraft operational, Col. James DeBoer, the Army\u2019s project manager for fixed-wing aircraft, told Defense News in a recent interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting to the point where we are just having significant issues with it,\u201d he said, so the Army is trying to figure out how it will replace a required capability and what that future ISR aircraft will look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artemis \u2014 or Aerial Reconnaissance and Targeting Exploitation Multi-Mission Intelligence System \u2014 is one effort among several to assess ISR capabilities for high-speed jets to possibly replace Guardrail, a turboprop aircraft based on the King Air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army awarded a contract to Leidos in November 2019 to build Artemis using a Bombardier Challenger 650 jet. The plane has been assessed in the Indo-Pacific and European theaters and will undergo evaluation over the summer at Defender Europe, a division-sized exercise designed to test the service\u2019s ability to deliver a force from the U.S. to Europe and then to operational areas throughout the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things we saw, and we know that we\u2019re concerned about with near-peer [adversaries], is we need to look at our sustainment, our ability to move around; so we did see one thing that came out the demonstrations is we can get to where we need to a lot faster,\u201d DeBoer said of Artemis\u2019 previous deployments in both theaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt may take us five to seven days to get a turboprop over to Europe because you have to take the northern route. We just don\u2019t have the legs. And if we\u2019re going to go to Korea, it\u2019s even longer because of the legs on the King Air type,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cWe can\u2019t really make the jump to Korea from Alaska. We have to go the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since those demonstrations, the Army has upgraded Artemis with better sensors, particularly communications sensors developed for Guardrail with the capabilities to talk over satellites and other direct and more reliable communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\t