The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force has taken delivery of its fifth and final GlobalEye Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft ordered from Saab in 2015.
The delivery comes just five months after the country received its penultimate GlobalEye aircraft at the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi.
According to Saab business area head for surveillance Carl-Johan Bergholm, completing the delivery in under 10 years underscores the company’s position as a “leading provider” of AEW&C platforms.
Deliveries of the GlobalEye to the UAE began in 2020 after five years of production and flight testing.
‘Multi-Domain Platform’
Saab is pitching its GlobalEye as an “advanced, multi-domain solution” capable of long-range threat detection and identification.
It features active and passive sensors that provide real-time information to units on the ground, at sea, or in the air.
The aircraft can operate for up to 11 hours at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) while detecting threats as low as 200 feet (61 meters).
Its primary goal is to enhance the situational awareness of military units in high-threat environments.
Currently, the UAE Air Force is the only confirmed operator of the AEW&C aircraft.
Sweden has placed an order for three aircraft, with deliveries expected between 2024 and 2029.