SPECIAL MISSION / Bombardier Platforms In 2015, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and its ELTA subsidiary unveiled plans for a new maritime patrol aircraft based on a Bombardier Global 5000 platform. IAI/Bombardier Image Watch the video here! Missionized solu t ions Bombardier explores ways to adapt its platforms for a variety of special applications. By Chris Thatcher ometime in the late 2020s, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will launch the formal process to find a replacement for the CP-140 Aurora, a long-range mari- time patrol aircraft that in recent years has transformed from a formidable submarine hunter to a powerful overland intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and tar- geting platform. Under a four-phased upgrade program known as the Aurora Incremental Modernization Project, the fleet of 14 Lockheed Martin aircraft has acquired extensive new mission computers and sensor systems to gather intelligence and targeting information and share that data, including streaming video, with other aircraft, ground or naval forces, and operational headquarters well beyond line-of-sight. It’s a capability of which the RCAF is justly proud—officers have called it “world-class” in recent public presentations and inter- views. As of mid-February, two Auroras had conducted 719 reconnaissance missions over Iraq and Syria on Operation Impact. But even with new mission systems and S 18 SKIES Magazine | March/April 2017 structural upgrades, the CP-140 is expect- ed to reach the end of its service life by the mid 2030s. The air force has laid out the broad strokes of a program expected to exceed $1.5 billion for a multi-mission aircraft that would deliver a long-range manned aircraft with C4 (command, con- trol, communications and computers) and ISR systems capable of “fully integrating with other ISR assets” that will undoubt- edly attract significant industry interest. RCAF commander LGen Mike Hood, however, has made no secret of his prefer- ence. In appearances before government committees and in an interview with Skies, he has argued persuasively for a Canadian- built aircraft such as the Bombardier C Series or Q400 and urged his team “to imagine how we continue to develop world-leading [anti-submarine warfare] capability…[in] a Canadian platform.” The RCAF is not alone in its interest to modify a Bombardier commercial aircraft for military purposes. In recent years, the Montreal-based company has signed a spate of deals with large international manufactur- ers to convert its business and passenger jets. At Aero India in February 2015, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and its subsidiary ELTA unveiled a maritime patrol, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare aircraft based on a Global 5000 business jet, configured with ELTA’s ELI- 3360 mission system and lightweight anti- submarine torpedoes and anti-ship missiles. The two companies previously modified and weaponized a Q400 turboprop. In June 2015, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon teamed with Bombardier to offer the Global platform for the United States Air Force’s Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System ( JSTARS) program, which is retiring its fleet of E-8C air- craft built on the Boeing 707 platform. Bombardier’s Global 6000 was previously selected by the USAF for its Battlefield Airborne Communications Node program, an airborne communications relay system. More recently, at the Singapore Airshow in February 2016, Saab and Bombardier expanded their partnership, offering Saab’s Swordfish maritime mission system on either a Global 6000 or Q400. The former would be armed with Saab’s RBS-15 anti-ship missile