Aircraft
Bombardier's USAF BACN Global Jet Deliveries Reach Eight
Next delivery for BACN program slated for 2025
USAF BACN Bombardier Global rendering (Image: Bombardier)
Bombardier's Global 6500 is the current platform for the U.S. Air Force's BACN airborne communications program.

Bombardier Defense delivered the eighth Global-family special-mission aircraft to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) for the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) program. The handover of the Global 6500 platform took place at the company’s Hartford, Connecticut service center under an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract affirmed in 2021 and valued at up to $465 million.

That IDIQ contract followed the delivery of four previous Globals under other BACN agreements that had occurred since 2007. Under the 2021 award, the USAF initially had a firm order for one aircraft with the potential of adding as many as five more. The next—and ninth total—delivery is slated for 2025.