Saab of Sweden is pitching its GlobalEye multi-sensor surveillance plane to Canada, which is searching for a new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) capability, the first in its history. While the GlobalEye will face stiff competition from the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, which had been selected by the U.S. Air Force and NATO, among others, the Swedish solution will be combined with a Canadian-made Bombardier Global 6000/6500 airframe.
Ahead of the CANSEC 2025 defense and security exhibition, Saab announced today that it’s ready to offer the GlobalEye to Canada, the manufacturer saying that this “combines the best of Swedish and Canadian expertise and quality to match the requirements of Canada’s acquisition program.” The manufacturer also announced today that it plans to ramp up Global Eye production, if required, to four aircraft annually.
“GlobalEye is a truly strategic asset — a multi-domain solution that delivers increased situational awareness and rapid response capability across air, maritime, and land domains,” said Anders Carp, deputy CEO of Saab. “With Bombardier’s world-class aircraft made right here in Canada, and Saab’s proven expertise in radar development and advanced surveillance technologies, we believe GlobalEye represents a unique opportunity to deliver unmatched capability while growing Canada’s aerospace and defense sectors.”
The GlobalEye is already in operational service on a Global 6000 platform with the United Arab Emirates, which acquired five examples.
Sweden is also set to receive three GlobalEye jets, locally known as the S 106, which will replace its last two older Saab 340 AEW&C aircraft, which are being transferred to Ukraine, as you can read about here.
The Saab 340 AEW&C is equipped with the Saab Erieye radar system, the progenitor of the GlobalEye, which is also currently in service with Brazil, Greece, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand, on a variety of different aircraft platforms.
As we’ve discussed in the past, the GlobalEye, which is sometimes marketed under the Swing Role Surveillance System (SRSS) name, combines Saab’s Erieye Extended Range (ER) active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with a number of additional sensors. The Erieye S-Band gallium-nitride radar is installed in the ‘ski-box’ mounted on top of GlobalEye’s fuselage.
But as a multi-sensor surveillance aircraft, the GlobalEye is able to provide long-range detection and identification of objects at sea and over land, as well as in the air.
For maritime surveillance, the GlobalEye can call upon the Erieye radar, as well as a dedicated maritime surveillance radar, a Leonardo Seaspray with an AESA antenna. Between them, they can detect objects as small as jet skis or submarine periscopes at long distances. Meanwhile, an automatic identification system (AIS), a FLIR Systems Star Safire 380HD electro-optical sensor turret, and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) can be used for identifying objects. Notably, while the rival E-7 can also perform surface surveillance with its radar, this is not its primary capability set, and it does not have a second dedicated array for it.
The GlobalEye’s maritime surveillance role could be of particular interest to Canada, as the country seeks to increase its overall presence in the Arctic. In the past, the demands of a steadily more contested Arctic region have seen Canada look at long-range surveillance drones.
Clearly, there is a growing requirement for maritime surveillance assets that can cover the vast swaths of the Arctic, protecting Canadian and allied strategic and economic interests and keeping tabs on the increasing Russian and Chinese military and civilian maritime activity in the region.
The GlobalEye can also conduct ground surveillance, employing its radar to detect moving objects at long ranges using wide-area ground moving target indication (GMTI).
All these sensors are combined with a multi-domain command and control (C2) system and a powerful electronic support measures (ESM) suite.
While there is little doubt about the potential of the GlobalEye mission package, Saab is hoping that the chosen airframe could also help clinch the Canadian deal.
By offering the Global 6000/6500 aircraft, Canada would be getting a locally built platform, bringing various industrial advantages, in terms of jobs, domestic content, and involvement of Canadian companies within a global supply chain.
Canada’s requirement for an AEW&C capability is a relatively new one, and the country has never previously operated an aircraft in this class.
Ottawa’s plans to buy an AEW&C platform were formally unveiled in April 2024, when the government released its defense policy. This called for a new platform to “detect aircraft and missiles at long ranges in real time and from much further away than ground-based radars and then manage the battle space in response to a threat.”
Such a capability “will vastly improve the [Royal Canadian Air Force’s] ability to detect, track and prioritize airborne threats sooner, respond faster, and better coordinate our response with the United States when required.”
As such, the future AEW&C aircraft will be an important part of the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), an area in which Ottawa is increasingly investing resources, faced by a resurgent Russian threat. As well as planned purchases of stealthy F-35A Joint Strike Fighters to replace aging CF-18 Hornet fighters, Canada is showing increasing interest in participating in Golden Dome defense efforts, which extend into space, as you can read about here.
According to reports, Ottawa has allocated around $5.463 billion for the project over a 20-year period, which includes buying the aircraft as well as operating and supporting them. The first of these aircraft is planned to enter service in the late 2030s.
It seems almost certain that Canada’s search for an AEW&C aircraft will see the GlobalEye face off against the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail.
This will be something of a repeat of the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft (CMMA) project, which ended up with Canada selecting the Boeing P-8 Poseidon to replace its old CP-140 Aurora (a version of the P-3 Orion) maritime patrol aircraft. As we reported at the time, Boeing secured a sole-source deal valued at around $5.9 billion for 14 P-8s, plus associated equipment and initial maintenance. There is also an option to buy two more P-8s at a later date. Ultimately, the whole deal could be worth around $7.7 billion.
The P-8 defeated a rival offering from Bombardier and General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada, based on the Global 6500 airframe.
Unlike the Global 6500-based CMMA proposal, however, the GlobalEye is already in production and in service on the same Canadian-made platform.
On the other hand, with Canada already having bought Boeing’s P-8, the E-7, which is also based on an adapted 737 airliner, would offer a significant degree of commonality, not to mention a higher level of interoperability with future U.S. Air Force and NATO Wedgetail fleets.
Among the FIVE EYES allies — the intelligence alliance that comprises Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States — all will eventually operate the P-8. Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States all will operate the E-7.
In April 2022, the U.S. Air Force announced plans to replace a portion of its fleet of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning And Control System, or AWACS, aircraft with E-7s, a decision that was widely expected.
NATO then followed the U.S. Air Force’s lead, announcing in November 2023 that the E-7 would be its next AEW&C platform, also replacing aging E-3s.
On the political side, the P-8’s victory in the CMMA project marked a turning point for Boeing, after the U.S. manufacturer had been criticized by Canada as an untrustworthy partner back in 2017. This had extinguished any chances of Canada buying the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as its next fighter.
As part of its protracted search for a replacement for its aging CF-18s, Canada had lined up a purchase of F/A-18E/Fs from Boeing as “interim fighters”.
Boeing then complained to the U.S. government that Bombardier was receiving subsidies, allowing it to sell its C-Series commercial passenger aircraft at prices that undercut the market and threatened the U.S. company’s own sales.
There followed an economic spat between the United States and its neighbor, and Canada walked away from the planned Super Hornet buy.
By the time of the P-8 deal, the issue had been forgotten, to all intents and purposes, although Boeing will have to ensure “meaningful business activities and make targeted investments in Canadian industry to support the growth of our aerospace and defense sector,” in delivering the P-8s. The same would very likely also apply to any sale of E-7s to Canada.
Since the Poseidon deal, however, relations between Canada and the United States have taken a dramatic turn for the worse.
A new global trade war under U.S. President Donald Trump has seen Canada become one of the first countries to be targeted with tariffs. Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly talked about making Canada the “51st state.”
The tariff wars could still play a role in Canada’s decision on its new airborne early warning and control aircraft. In particular, independence of operation is now a much bigger issue for Canada and one area in which the Saab offering has a clear advantage. Whatever the relationship with the United States, the GlobalEye would be free from U.S.-controlled maintenance and logistics chains, as well as computer networks.
However, as we’ve seen in the past with the P-8 Poseidon, it would seem very unwise to rule out Boeing from the competition, whatever happens next in the relationship between Ottawa and Washington.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com