Germany’s Next-Gen Surveillance Plane Touches Down

PEGASUS program reaches new phase with aircraft arrival in Germany.

Matt Ryan

Friday, December 12, 2025 at 03:24 PM ET

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Matt Ryan

[Credit: Bombardier Defense]

Key Takeaways:

The first PEGASUS (Persistent German Airborne Surveillance System) aircraft, a modified Bombardier Global 6000, has arrived in Germany, marking the transition from initial development to system integration and certification.
Led by HENSOLDT with partners Lufthansa Technik Defense and Bombardier Defense, the program will provide the German Armed Forces with a crewed, bizjet-based airborne signals intelligence (SIGINT) capability.
Integration of HENSOLDT's Kalaetron Integral SIGINT suite, mission cabin, and other military systems, along with both civil and military certification, will now take place in Hamburg, Germany.
PEGASUS is designed to replace earlier canceled programs, offering long-endurance, high-altitude SIGINT collection while operating outside contested airspace.

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The first aircraft for Germany’s PEGASUS (Persistent German Airborne Surveillance System) program arrived in the country last week, marking a key transition from development to integration and certification. The modified Bombardier Global 6000 completed a transatlantic flight from Bombardier Defense’s facility in Wichita, Kansas, and landed at Lufthansa Technik’s headquarters in Hamburg. According to HENSOLDT, a Germany-based defense electronics company that specializes in sensors and electronic warfare systems, the milestone shifts the program from platform design and initial flight testing in the United States to mission system integration activities in Germany.

Led by HENSOLDT, with Lufthansa Technik Defense and Bombardier Defense as partners, PEGASUS will provide the German Armed Forces with a crewed, bizjet-based airborne signals intelligence capability. The surveillance plane is one of three Global 6000s being modified for the mission, which centers on HENSOLDT’s Kalaetron Integral SIGINT suite. Integration of the sensors, mission cabin and additional military and communications systems will take place in Hamburg, where Lufthansa Technik Defense will also manage both civil and military certification.

“With the arrival of the first aircraft in Hamburg, we are entering the crucial phase of system integration and qualification,” Jürgen Halder, vice president of airborne SIGINT at HENSOLDT, said.

PEGASUS is intended to replace earlier German efforts to field a long-endurance airborne SIGINT platform following the cancellation of the Euro Hawk program more than a decade ago. The Global 6000-based solution is designed to operate at high altitude and long range, supporting wide-area collection of electromagnetic emissions while remaining outside contested airspace.

Bombardier Defense said the arrival is an example of the growing role of business jet platforms in special mission applications.

“We are proud to collaborate with HENSOLDT and Lufthansa Technik to help bring this next-generation signals intelligence aircraft to the German Armed Forces,” Steve Patrick, vice president of Bombardier Defense, said.