NATO no longer wants to be dependent on American aircraft to renew its fleet of radar aircraft. According to sources within the alliance, the future fleet will consist of GlobalEye aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier and Sweden’s Saab.
Sven Van Malderen
Journalist at HLN
Source: Belga
NATO sources confirmed the news to the German news agency DPA. Earlier, the French newspaper ‘La Lettre’ had released the news. It was initially reported that a final decision would follow at the NATO summit in Ankara in July.
The GlobalEye is a so-called ‘Airborne Early Warning and Control’ aircraft with active and passive sensors. These should allow the device to detect and identify objects in the air, at sea and on the ground at long distances.
Maximum twelve devices
The GlobalEye consists of a series of sensors with a radar and mission system from Saab, installed in and on Bombardier’s Global business jet. It is expected that this will involve an order for a maximum of 12 aircraft, with a value of several billion dollars.
NATO initially planned to purchase American Boeing E-7A Wedgetail aircraft. The alliance abandoned this after the US government withdrew from the program. After the American withdrawal, Germany is expected to shoulder the majority of the costs.
Boeing 707s outdated
To date, NATO uses Boeing 707s. Some of those devices are almost forty years old. The aircraft are mainly responsible for monitoring the airspace in Eastern Europe. The fleet’s main base is the NATO airfield in Geilenkirchen in northwestern Germany. The fleet consists of fourteen aircraft and has been deployed in all major NATO missions.
The devices can locate and identify other aircraft at a distance of more than 400 kilometers. They then forward that information to other devices with similar equipment.
