NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced on July 7 that the alliance will procure up to 10 Saab GlobalEye surveillance aircraft to replace its aging fleet of 14 Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS planes, in a deal expected to total roughly $4.5 billion. Eleven member nations — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Sweden — are backing the purchase.
The Swedish jet beat out Boeing's E-7 Wedgetail, which NATO shelved in 2025 after the U.S. Air Force pulled back from the platform and its delivery timelines slipped. GlobalEye pairs Saab's Erieye Extended Range radar with a Bombardier Global 6500 business-jet airframe, using a fixed AESA array instead of the E-3's rotating dish, and can fly missions longer than 11 hours while also tracking maritime and land targets alongside air threats.
Each aircraft is expected to cost $400-450 million, and formal contract negotiations with the NATO Support and Procurement Agency are just beginning — Saab says it has not yet signed an order. Sweden's prime minister said GlobalEye flights from Swedish bases could start as soon as 2027, while the wider NATO fleet could begin deliveries around 2030.