Saab has delivered another GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), marking the delivery of the fourth such aircraft to the UAE in four years.
The delivery took place on 18 April 2024 and follows Saab’s previous deliveries of three GlobalEyes to the UAE in 2020 and 2021.
The UAE has ordered a total of five GlobalEye aircraft from Saab, with the initial contract signed in 2015 and an order for two additional aircraft received in 2021. The fifth and final Emirati GlobalEye made its maiden flight in November 2023.
“I am proud to celebrate the fourth delivery of our world-leading AEW&C solution GlobalEye to the UAE and to continue supporting its operational availability and mission success,” Saab President and CEO Micael Johansson was quoted as saying in a Saab press release. “The high delivery pace in the GlobalEye programme is testament to our unique in-house capability, which means we control the entire process, from development to integration.”
The GlobalEye platform is an advanced multi-domain AEW&C solution that features Saab’s Erieye multi-mode active electronically scanned-array radar mounted dorsally on a Bombadier Global 6000 long-range business jet. The system also has a Seaspray 7500E maritime surveillance radar mounted on the underside of the Global 6000, which can also conduct ground surveillance, and an electro-optical/infra-red sensor mounted under the forward fuselage.
According to Saab, a GlobalEye operating at 35,000 ft can detect low-level airborne threats (at 200 ft) at distances exceeding 458 km.
