Australia’s MC-55A Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare (ISREW) is heading for home. Flight tracking services have located the aircraft with FAA registration N584GA landing in Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Hawaii. At the same time, photos of the aircraft in Hawaii have appeared on social media as well.
A report published in The Australian in June 2025 indicated the first aircraft was expected to arrive in Australia late in the year. The Hawaii stopover suggests the delivery timeline may have slipped further, adding to a program that has experienced significant delays since its approval.
The MC-55A Peregrine is a heavily modified Gulfstream G550 business jet being acquired under Phase 1 of Project Air 555 to provide the Royal Australian Air Force with an intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare capability. The Royal Australian Air Force is acquiring four of the aircraft through a Foreign Military Sales arrangement with the United States Air Force, with L3Harris Technologies serving as the prime contractor.
According to L3Harris Technologies ISR president Jason Lambert, the aircraft represents a first-of-type platform. The company completed flight tests for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in July 2024, with Gulfstream obtaining the Supplemental Type Certificate for the MC-55A platform in the fourth quarter of that year. The first functional test flight with mission systems installed took place in December 2024 at the company’s Greenville, Texas facility.
The program has encountered substantial technical challenges, particularly with the design, engineering and certification of modifications to the aircraft’s outer mould line. The modifications include extensive changes to accommodate intelligence gathering systems, antennae, power system upgrades, and communications equipment. The alterations required significant engineering work to meet size, weight, weight distribution and power requirements, including modifications to the Rolls Royce engine and an increase in the maximum zero fuel weight for the airframe.
Lambert said the complete sensor suite being installed on the MC-55A has never before been integrated into a business jet-size airframe. While the specific capabilities remain classified, he noted the aircraft carries multi-intelligence collection systems, with equipment similar to that found on the much larger Boeing RC-135V/W Rivet Joint aircraft.
The aircraft will be based at RAAF Edinburgh in South Australia following delivery. The Main Operating Base facilities at Edinburgh were completed in the second quarter of 2024, with the simulator facility finished in early 2023.
Lambert described the capability as a game-changer for the RAAF, citing its ability to link assets together and serve as a force multiplier for air, sea, space and ground forces. The aircraft will provide strategic capability, command and control, and communications linkages between ground, space and sea assets in the battlespace.
The program received Australian government second pass approval in September 2017. Initial Operational Capability requires two MC-55A crews, one ground based mission crew, two maintenance crews, and supporting infrastructure. Final Operational Capability will include additional crews and the full fleet of four aircraft with complete support arrangements.
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