U.S. Army to Base Six New HADES Jets and Drone Battalion at Fort Hood

The U.S. Army will base its future ME-11B HADES aircraft fleet at Fort Hood, Texas, and establish a first-of-its-kind operational drone battalion at the same location. The service retired the last of its turboprop ISR planes in 2025 and is consolidating aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets under the 116th Military Intelligence Brigade.

The 116th Military Intelligence Brigade is relocating from Fort Gordon, Georgia, to Fort Hood. The relocation was authorized on March 3, 2026, by then-Chief of Staff of the Army General Randy George. The brigade has served as the Army’s main aerial ISR formation since 2014 and has overseen units at multiple bases, including Fort Hood, over the past 12 years.

The consolidation will bring 1,228 additional personnel to Fort Hood from Fort Gordon, Fort Stewart, and Fort Bliss by Fiscal Year 2028. The Army expects delivery of the first ME-11B prototype before December 31, 2026, and is acquiring two additional prototypes along with at least six production aircraft. The jets are being converted from Bombardier Global 6500 business jets.

A contracting notice last month addressed planned hangar work at Robert Gray Army Airfield to accommodate the ME-11B jets. The 224th Military Intelligence Battalion is scheduled to move from Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, to Fort Hood by 2027. It will form the core of the new UAS Battalion, which will consist of a headquarters and headquarters company, two MQ-1C Gray Eagle companies, and one processing, exploitation, and dissemination company.

Andrew Evans, Director of Strategy and Transformation with the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, stated that HADES aircraft will be able to fly ISR missions 99.9 percent of the time without threat concerns. He added that there will be nothing in the world that cannot be touched with the combined range of HADES and launched drones.