Revamped Army Spy Plane Program To Save Over $200 Million: The revamping of an Army spy plane program is expected to save the service about $216 million across the fleet compared to the cost of the original plan, according to the product manager for the Army's Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems (EMARSS).
The EMARSS program has been tumultuous, coming close to cancellation when the service announced in 2011 it would build only four aircraft. The program was resurrected when the Army decided to build 24 of the spy planes using Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ERs.
The Army suffered major delays in building the first four engineering and manufacturing development aircraft and had cost overruns so serious the Army was assessing the possibility of using Air Force Liberty planes to meet its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft needs, a proposed move previously rejected by both the Army and Air Force.
