SINGAPORE — American defense firm L3Harris has started work to convert two Bombardier business jets into Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft for South Korea, according to a company official.
“We have already received two aircraft to begin mission system integration work, demonstrating both program momentum and the maturity of the AERIS solution,” L3Harris Principal for International Business Development Jason Whitford told Breaking Defense at the Singapore Airshow. AERIS is the name for what L3Harris calls the “next-generation AEW&C family” of systems that go into the militarized jets.
The work will eventually see four Bombardier Global Express 6500 business jets converted in AEW&C aircraft for the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF). The team made up of L3Harris together with Korean Air, Israel’s IAI-Elta and Canada’s Bombardier had won the bid to supply the US ally with the aircraft in September 2025.
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The aircraft will be fitted with an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system from IAI-Elta on board, with radar modules fitted in housings on the aircraft’s nose, tail and conformal side cheek panels on each side of the fuselage to give it all round radar coverage, said Whitford.
L3Harris will be responsible for integration of the mission systems for the program. The company has already had experience in this field, having done similar work for the US Air Force’s EA-37 Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft and Australia’s MC-55A Peregrine Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare platform.
Both L3Harris and IAI-Elta declined to identify the exact radar that will be used, but South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency had previously reported that it was the EL/L2085 dual-band AESA radar.
Whitford told Breaking Defense that the all-round radar coverage capabilities of the conformal radar configuration is one of a number of advantages over the alternatives. The planes can fly faster and higher than turboprop-powered platforms, enabling them to reach their assigned patrol station quicker and see further. They were also cheaper to operate and sustain than more complex solutions, he added.
Whitford also said that he has seen extensive interest from around the world in the AERIS platform, although he declined to reveal who these customers were. However, Taiwan’s Upmedia has reported that the company attended an industry day held by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and also briefed Taiwanese air force personnel on their AEW&C portfolio.
Taiwan is currently seeking to replace six Northrop-Grumman E-2K Hawkeye aircraft.
L3Harris is currently offering the AERIS in two versions: the AERIS-X based on the Global Express 6500 and the AERIS-A based on the Gulfstream G550s. The latter is based on the same airframe modifications to the AEW&C aircraft in service with Israel, Italy and Singapore as well as the US Air Force’s EA-37 Compass Call.
However, the G550 is no longer in production, and Whitford says that the Global Express 6500 the solution is a new-build aircraft with its longer lifespan was required.