Aircraft
Sierra Nevada’s Rapcon-X ISR Jet Makes First Flight
Rapcon-X is a heavily modified Bombardier Global 6500 business jet
Sierra Nevada Corp Rapcon X ISR aircraft
Sierra Nevada Corp has based its Rapcon X intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform on a Bombardier Global 6500 business jet.

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) has completed the first test flight of its Rapcon-X aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platform earlier this month in Hagerstown, Maryland.  The Rapcon-X ISR jet is based on a Bombardier Global 6500 that SNC is heavily modifying for the U.S. Army’s Theater-level High-altitude Expeditionary Next Airborne ISR (Athena) program.

Bombardier delivered the two ultra-long-range business jets to SNC’s Hagerstown integration facility in late 2022. Through Rapcon-X (short for “rapidly configurable to any mission”), SNC aims to reduce the time it takes to add, upgrade, or swap out systems in ISR aircraft. The open-architecture design allows operators to swiftly reconfigure the interior for various special mission requirements without costly redesign work.