Saab presents first GlobalEye for the Swedish Air Force, three aircraft on order

Two aircraft ordered in 2022, a third in 2024, deliveries from 2027

FMV contracted the first two GlobalEyes in June 2022 for about SEK 7.3 billion, with deliveries planned for 2027 and options for two more. Sweden exercised one option in 2024 and ordered a third aircraft. After the decision to donate two ASC 890s to Ukraine, FMV signed an agreement with Saab to bring deliveries forward and keep the gap in AEW&C capability as short as possible. The first Global 6000 airframe arrived from Bombardier in Canada in July 2023, and mission system installation began in Linköping in January 2024.

- The presentation of Sweden's first GlobalEye marks an important milestone for both Saab and the Swedish Armed Forces. As the programme progresses towards delivery, GlobalEye will provide Sweden with a powerful capability for airborne surveillance and situational awareness - says Micael Johansson, President and CEO of Saab.

The Swedish aircraft is a version tailored to national requirements and to interoperability with allies. Its task is to deliver a real-time picture of the air, sea and land domains so that decisions in headquarters and aboard ships are taken faster than the adversary's.

Erieye ER: a radar with more than 650 km of reach over the Baltic

GlobalEye is a converted Bombardier Global 6000 business jet carrying the Erieye ER (Extended Range) radar in the dorsal plank above the fuselage. The gallium nitride AESA array has a range in excess of 650 km and is complemented by a maritime surveillance radar, an electro-optical turret and passive sensors. A single aircraft watches the airspace, the sea surface and the land at the same time and feeds the picture in real time to air force, army and navy units.

For Sweden, a NATO member since March 2024, this means deep surveillance of the Baltic, from the Kaliningrad exclave to the Gulf of Finland, from an orbit over its own territory. The capability matters to the wider region: Swedish AEW&C aircraft complement the picture over the southern Baltic, and Poland ordered two Saab 340 AEW aircraft with the Erieye radar from Saab in 2023, the first of their kind in the Polish Air Force.

Five for the UAE and new orders in 2026

The United Arab Emirates launched the programme with an order in 2015 and has taken delivery of five aircraft; the prototype first flew on 14 March 2018 in Linköping. In July 2026 Saab booked an order for two more GlobalEyes from an undisclosed Middle Eastern customer worth SEK 10.1 billion, and in September the Netherlands signed a letter of intent with Sweden on acquiring the type. In parallel Saab is developing LoyalEye, an airborne early warning sensor for uncrewed platforms, which flew for the first time on an MQ-9B in May 2026.