![]() Since 2008, BACN has provided military commanders with a long-range, over-the-horizon secure communication capability that connects troops to combat pilots, despite adverse terrain or distance, often when terrestrial services are either restricted or unavailable. The contract also provides support for infrastructure contained in or connected to the BACN system and associated ground stations, controls, and ancillary or support equipment for system integration laboratories. The five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity agreement also includes funds for research, development, testing and evaluation, and integration of existing and future payloads. It is the military variant of the civil Bombardier BD-700 Global Express for use as overhead communications-relay platform. In January this year, the air force awarded a $3.6 billion contract to Northrop Grumman for operations, sustainment, and support of the BACN. The crashed plane was identified as the Bombardier E-11A aircraft. Currently, there are seven aircraft carrying the BACN payload on two different platforms: three manned Bombardier E-11As and four unmanned Global Hawk E-Q4Bs. The service expects to award that contract by end of March, and the aircraft to be delivered by the end of June. The US Air Force is buying an additional six Bombardier E-11A aircraft to boost the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) airborne communications relay and gateway system. Initially believed to have been an Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 737-400, reports have since been adjusted based on more information becoming available. The team has secured additional funding for the first aircraft, and contract negotiations on a purchase agreement are currently in progress, the air force said. A Bombardier Global Express E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) has crashed in the Sadozai area of the Deh Yak District near Ghanzi. In an effort to boost the fleet, the BACN Program Office is working to procure six E-11A aircraft over the next five years. Engineers and technicians at Bombardier Specialized Aircrafts Center of Excellence in Wichita. Afghanistan US Forces spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett confirmed in a statement that the aircraft was a US Bombardier E-11A, a type of jet used as a military airborne communications node in the region.
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