NATO member states have announced plans to acquire ten Saab GlobalEye aircraft as the alliance’s next-generation airborne early warning and control platform, opting for the Swedish system over Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail. The decision was disclosed by officials on Tuesday.
At NATO’s Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, Turkey, Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed that the GlobalEye will replace the alliance’s aging fleet of Boeing E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. “For decades, NATO has relied on a fleet of E-3 AWACS, that have been our ‘eyes in the skies’,” Rutte said. “They have been deployed from northern Norway to southern Türkiye, have served us well, but are reaching the end of their lives. Today, several allies are announcing the joint procurement of up to 10 Saab GlobalEye aircraft to replace them.”
Saab CEO Micael Johansson told reporters at the summit that the agreement is estimated at roughly $4.5 billion, with initial deliveries possible by 2030 contingent on the signing timeline.
The procurement effort includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, and Sweden, according to a NATO press release.
An aerospace analyst noted that the preference for Saab was shaped by the Pentagon’s initial—and later reversed—proposal to exclude E-7 funding from its 2027 budget. J.J. Gertler of the Teal Group explained: “When the U.S. ’27 budget came out with no money for E-7, NATO looked at that and said, ‘Well, if the U.S. isn’t buying it, why should we?’ They announced right then that because the administration was not behind E-7, they did not expect to be favoring it. That was both a matter of timing, when the administration later decided to buy E-7, but also something of an own goal.”
That preliminary lean toward Saab was reported in April by the French publication La Lettre, days after the Pentagon’s budget reveal showed no E-7 Wedgetail funding.
Following NATO’s formal selection, Boeing reiterated its support for the E-7. “Boeing remains fully committed to supporting the mission needs of NATO allies and partners,” a spokesperson said via email. “With an active production line, the E-7A is the most capable and mature airborne battle management, command and control system fielded today. The E-7 is a combat-proven platform already in the hands of NATO allies, delivering a family-of-systems approach driven by unmatched interoperability with allied capabilities, and an industrial and sustainment framework ready to meet operational timelines.”
Saab, in a press release, clarified that “the company has not signed a contract or received an order related to the announcement.” The GlobalEye integrates multiple sensors on a Bombardier Global 6500 airframe to track a broad spectrum of threats—including drones, ballistic and hypersonic missiles—in contested environments, per the manufacturer’s literature.
Johansson added: “We are confident that GlobalEye is the right choice for the Alliance, delivering proven capability, adaptability and long-term operational advantage. Today’s announcement clearly positions GlobalEye as the world-leading solution for advanced airborne early warning and control. We look forward to the next steps in the negotiations.”
In May, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reversed the earlier position, stating that the omission of E-7 funds had reflected an outdated “austerity” and “divest-to-invest mindset.”
Last month, House appropriators endorsed the White House’s $1.5 billion budget amendment to finance E-7 Wedgetail development and resisted attempts to divert the Navy’s airborne early warning accounts.
NATO’s trajectory on the matter has been turbulent. In 2023, the alliance intended to purchase six E-7s. Then, in July 2025, the Trump administration withdrew from that arrangement. Four months later, the Netherlands and other participating nations declared they would no longer pursue the aircraft, citing “strategic and financial” difficulties.