The U.S. Army has deployed two of its new ARTEMIS intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance spy planes to Okinawa to conduct surveillance operations off the coast of mainland China.
Airborne Reconnaissance and Targeting Multimission Intelligence System, or ARTEMIS, is the Army's first manned aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance jet. It is a modified Bombardier Challenger 650 twin-engine commercial jet.
ARTEMIS "provides high-altitude sensing capabilities against near peer adversaries and bridges gaps in the Multi Domain Operations mission," the Army said in a statement. It contains state-of-the-art sensors and communications equipment. The Army's first jet spy plane has a High-Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System. It is a powerful ground-scanning radar and electronic-intelligence receiver. From 40,000 feet it can scan hundreds of kilometers in all directions.
It can detect enemy warships as well as small, moving targets on land such as tanks. The receivers can pinpoint enemy radar installations.
The ARTEMIS program started in May 2019. ARTEMIS can support the U.S. Army in fighting a long-range conventional war against China.
Its new Strategic Long-Range Cannon system can hit targets 1,600 kilometers away with a self-propelled hypersonic projectile.
The U.S. Army may develop a Mach 5 - or 6,000 kilometers an hour - hypersonic missile that can "strike targets in China that could otherwise only be attacked using air or maritime platforms," according to the RAND Corporation. It will provide surface-to-surface strategic fire at strategic ranges. In late 2019, the Army said it wanted to demonstrate a prototype of the cannon system in 2023.
Long-range weapons, however, need support from sensors to detect and track beyond-the-horizon targets. They also require communications and command infrastructure for target information.
The Army intends to deploy 10 more ARTEMIS aircraft starting 2028. These planes will be larger than the two jets currently in service. Reports say the Army intends to use either the Boeing 737 or Gulfstream G550 aircraft for the next generation ARTEMIS.
