Saab and the French Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) defence procurement agency signed a joint declaration of intent at the Paris Air Show on 18 June 2025 regarding the French acquisition of two GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
The proposed package, which includes ground equipment, training and support, also includes an option for two additional aircraft.
A final notification process to complete the procurement will now follow, with Saab noting in a press release that the DGA has stated that a contract is expected to be finalised in the coming months.
The French Air and Space Force has a requirement to replace its fleet of four Boeing 707-based E-3F Sentry AEW&C platforms, which first entered service in 1990.
Saab’s GlobalEye multi-role AEW&C platform is based on the Bombardier Global 6000/6500 business jet, which can comfortably offer a mission endurance of more than 11 hours. Its main sensor is a dorsally mounted Saab Erieye ER (Extended Range) S-band active electronically scanned-array radar, which Saab states has an instrumented range “well above 650 km”. The Erieye ER’s multi-domain performance allows it to pick up air threats from ballistic missiles to relatively small drones as well as maritime targets down to jet-ski size.
The GlobalEye also features a Leonardo Seaspray 7500E X-band maritime radar mounted under the forward fuselage and a turreted electro-optical/infra-red sensor mounted under the forward fuselage.
The GlobalEye platform is currently in service with the United Arab Emirates, which has five aircraft in service, one of which was borrowed by Saab to appear at this year’s Paris Air Show. Meanwhile, Sweden initially ordered two GlobalEyes in June 2022, but then ordered a third aircraft in June 2024 after donating two Saab 340 AEW&C platforms to Ukraine.
Beyond France, Saab is also pitching the GlobalEye to South Korea, which has stated an intention to supplement its fleet of four Boeing E-7 Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft, and is looking at Canada as a potential prospect, although no Canadian AEW&C programme is currently live.
