At the NATO Summit in Ankara, Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that NATO will begin formal negotiations with Saab regarding the acquisition of up to ten GlobalEye Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) systems.
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The decision marks a significant step in modernising NATO’s airborne surveillance and early warning capabilities by replacing part of the Alliance’s aging Boeing E-3 fleet.
“We are honoured and proud to support NATO in its next-generation AEW&C capability. We are confident that GlobalEye is the right choice for the Alliance, delivering proven capability, adaptability and long-term operational advantage. Today’s announcement clearly positions GlobalEye as the world-leading solution for advanced airborne early warning and control. We look forward to the next steps in the negotiations,” says Micael Johansson, President and CEO of Saab.
GlobalEye will enable the Alliance to monitor vast areas of land, sea and air, significantly enhancing NATO’s ability to detect and respond to a wide range of threats. GlobalEye combines Saab’s Erieye Extended Range radar with an advanced suite of sensors and a multi-domain Command and Control (C2) system, on a Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft. As an AEW&C system, GlobalEye provides long-range detection with high update rates, capable of identifying low-observable and stealthy threats, as well as drones, ballistic and hypersonic missiles, even in complex environments characterised by heavy clutter and electronic jamming.
The GlobalEye system will provide advanced, multi-domain surveillance across air, land and sea from a single platform. It will provide enhanced detection and tracking of complex threats, including drone swarms, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles. The aircraft will strengthen NATO’s situational awareness and support operations.
NATO’s new Airborne Warning and Control System is among many capability and industrial commitments being unveiled at the Ankara Summit, demonstrating concrete progress in strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence. The 11 Allies that have signed for the GlobalEye are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, and Sweden.