Lufthansa Technik Defense to complete PEGASUS SIGINT integration by end of 2026

Image of Bombardier's Global 6000 aircraft from the German PEGASUS programme ready to rollout from Bombardier's Wichita, Kansas, hangar in 2024. (Bombardier Defence)

Lufthansa Technik Defense will complete the integration of the signals intelligence (SIGINT) mission system based on Hensoldt's Kalaetron Integral into Bombardier Global 6000 jets by the end of 2026, Christian Fenzel, sales team lead at Hensoldt confirmed to Janes on 6 April.

The first of the three aircraft, integrated with Hensoldt's Kalaetron Integral Airborne signals intelligence (SIGINT) sensor suite, will be delivered to the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) in 2027. The second aircraft is expected to be delivered six months after that, Fenzel said at Defence iQ's C4ISR Global 2026 conference in London.

Hensoldt was awarded the contract to supply an airborne system for SIGINT integrated into three Bombardier Global 6000 jets, under the Persistent German Airborne Surveillance System (PEGASUS) programme, in June 2021, according to Hensoldt. The Kalaetron Integral Airborne SIGINT sensor suite payload weighs over one tonne, Fenzel said. It includes integrated communications intelligence (COMINT) and electronic intelligence (ELINT) capabilities.

“It's a complex antenna system, it's more than 50 different antenna elements with lots of receivers and computers,” Fenzel said. The antenna configurations include interferometers and circular arrays. “We also have spinning antennas which can rotate and look in different directions. Those will be connected to receiving units which will enable the user to scan through the spectrum,” he added. This includes looking at different frequency ranges simultaneously. The data is then sent to the computers that are part of the package. “Actionable intelligence can be generated from that,” Fenzel added.