NATO is about to replace its aging AWACS fleet and has awarded the replacement contract to Saab and Bombardier. This is reported by the French newspaper La Lettre.

The Bombardier Global 6000 business jets will be equipped with a total of fourteen GlobalEye (Airborne Early Warning and Control) systems. Saab will handle the integration of the systems on the aircraft and will also take care of sales.

The GlobalEye is equipped with the ‘Erieye Extended Range radar’, which can detect and track air and ground targets at distances of more than 550 kilometers.

The type is already in use by several countries. For instance, the Swedish Air Force ordered two units in June 2022, only to purchase another two years later. The United Arab Emirates has also invested in the system over the past decade and now possesses four aircraft.

The new aircraft are intended to replace the fourteen aging Boeing E-3A Sentry AWACS aircraft, which are based at Geilenkirchen Air Base in Germany. For a long time, it was expected that Boeing would receive the contract again, with the E-7A Wedgetail. However, the American manufacturer withdrew from the program last summer.

Former State Secretary for Defence Gijs Tuinman previously emphasized that this development underscored the importance of “investing as much as possible in European industry.

With this, NATO appears to be choosing a non-American aircraft as the basis for its air defense for the first time in forty years.

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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)