NATO has chosen Saab's GlobalEye airborne early warning aircraft to replace its decades-old surveillance fleet, marking one of the alliance's most significant defence procurement decisions in years. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced the selection on Tuesday at the alliance's defence industry forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.
The order covers up to ten aircraft and will supplant NATO's fleet of 14 Boeing E-3A Sentry planes, which have served since 1982. The GlobalEye system, developed by Saab and based on the Bombardier Global 6000/6500 airframe, will be stationed at NATO's Geilenkirchen airbase in Germany. Eleven member states back the procurement, with Germany expected to shoulder the largest share of the multi-billion euro cost.