NATO Selects Saab GlobalEye to Replace Aging E-3 AWACS Fleet
Eleven NATO allies announced on July 7, 2026, the joint procurement of up to 10 Saab GlobalEye aircraft to succeed the alliance's Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS fleet, months after Boeing's E-7 Wedgetail was dropped as NATO's presumptive successor.
NATO announced on July 7, 2026, that eleven member states will jointly procure up to 10 Saab GlobalEye aircraft to replace the alliance's aging fleet of Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS airborne early warning planes, Secretary General Mark Rutte said at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, Türkiye.
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Sweden are the allies behind the joint acquisition, according to NATO's official announcement. Saab confirmed it has not yet signed a contract or received a firm order; formal negotiations with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) are only now getting underway, with no fixed delivery schedule confirmed. Saab CEO Micael Johansson said the company is "confident that GlobalEye is the right choice for the Alliance, delivering proven capability, adaptability and long-term operational advantage." Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said GlobalEye aircraft acquired under earlier national orders are expected to begin operating from Swedish bases by 2027, ahead of any NATO-wide deliveries.
The selection follows NATO's decision to drop Boeing's E-7 Wedgetail as its presumptive E-3 successor in November 2025, citing the loss of the program's "strategic and financial basis" amid uncertainty over the U.S. Air Force's own Wedgetail purchase. That left GlobalEye as the only Western jet-powered AEW&C aircraft still in production, built on a Bombardier Global 6500 business-jet airframe fitted with Saab's Erieye Extended Range radar and a multi-domain command-and-control suite. NATO says the system can track air, land and sea targets from a single platform, including low-observable threats, drone swarms, and ballistic and cruise missiles.
GlobalEye already flies for Sweden, its launch customer, and France, which ordered two aircraft in a roughly $1.3 billion deal finalized in December 2024; the United Arab Emirates operates an earlier Erieye-equipped variant. Canada opened its own negotiations for the aircraft in May 2026, and Germany and Poland have separately expressed interest in the platform. NATO's current E-3A fleet has flown from NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen, Germany since 1982 and is nearing the end of its operational life.
NSPA talks with Saab are expected to continue in the coming months, with initial GlobalEye deliveries to NATO not anticipated before 2030 and full operational capability targeted for 2031. The Ankara forum also produced a separate track in which eight allies launched a parallel cooperative project on national airborne early warning requirements outside the NATO-wide buy.
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