Combat aircraft

operator work-stations plus a rest area

with four seats, and can be con gured for

remote operation and mission support

from a ground station. The airborne

operator complement is intended to be

 exible — based on air force needs — up

to a maximum of nine. The  ight crew

comprises two pilots.

The GlobalEye won’t be the UAE’s  rst

AEW&C platform. As an interim solution,

it signed a contract in November 2009

for two former Swedish Air Force Saab

340AEW&C (S 100B Argus) aircraft with the

original Erieye radar. Deliveries took place

in August 2010 and April 2011.

It’s noteworthy that Saab has turned

to international funding for the new

platform, with no current domestic

commitment, although that might change

once the Swedish Armed Forces publish

their long-term defense plan for the

years up to 2035. However, Saab o cials

are already pitching the GlobalEye as a

successor to the NATO E-3A  eet by 2035.

‘We are having dialogues and they are

really impressed by the radar’, a company

o cial con rmed.

In terms of the potential of GlobalEye as

a NATO AWACS replacement, Saab points

to the successful integration of the Erieye

system with the alliance by the Hellenic

Air Force. The HAF uses the radar on the

Embraer EMB-145H platform, in service

since 2004.

Top: A cutaway of

the interior of the

GlobalEye. Saab

Above: The fi rst

‘Project Dolphin’

SIGINT-confi gured

Global 6000

for the UAE,

photographed

at Marshall

Aerospace’s

airfi eld facility in

Cambridge, UK,

last year.

Bob Archer

INDUSTRY REPORT // GLOBALEYE

84 May 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

The

GlobalEye

boasts 11-hour-plus

endurance. Crew

comfort and overall

performance mean

the airframe is

‘ideally suited for

special mission

specifi cations’

82-85 GlobalEye C.indd 84 20/03/2018 10:55