First fl ight for GlobalEye
6 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comNEWS
// MAY 2018 #Headlines
SAAB COMPLETED
the maiden flight of its
GlobalEye airborne early
warning and control
(AEW&C) aircraft at
its Linköping facility in
Sweden on March 14.
The event took place
three weeks after Saabrevealed the GlobalEye
to the media for the first
time on February 23. The
GlobalEye now wears the
Swedish civil registration
SE-RMY and has had
its United Arab Emirates
markings temporarily
replaced by Saab logos.According to a statement
from the company, the
modified Bombardier Global
6000 “collected extensive
flight-test data using the
on-board instrumentation
suite” during the 1hr 46min
sortie. The flight was
preceded by a series ofground trials including
high- and low-speed taxiing
tests. The aircraft has not
yet been outfitted with its
full swing-role surveillance
system (SRSS) suite.
Orders for the first
two GlobalEyes for the
United Arab Emirates AirForce and Air Defence
(UAEAF&AD) were
announced at the Dubai
Airshow in 2015 and
a third was confirmed
at the International
Defence Exhibition &
Conference (IDEX) in Abu
Dhabi early last year.GlobalEye SE-RMY during
its maiden fl ight, with Saab
Experimental Test Pilot
Magnus Fredriksson at the
controls. SaabIsraeli F-16s for Croatia
A SPECIAL advisory team
from the Croatian Ministry of
Defence (MoD) has chosen
Israel’s offer of 12 used
F-16C/D Barak aircraft to
provide the country’s new
multi-role fighter. Croatia
received four proposals for
the acquisition of a new
fighter, submitted by Greece,
Israel, Sweden and the US
on October 3 last year (see
F-16 vs Gripen in Croatia,
November 2017, p14).
After passing through
various other procedures
and governmental bodies,
the decision was reviewedon March 27 at a session of
Croatia’s Defence Council- a high-level governmental
body, attended by the
country’s leading civilian
and military officials,
including the president
and prime minister. The
council unanimously
accepted the team’s
decision and has authorised
the government to sign a
contract with Israel for the
acquisition of the fighter.
At a session two days later,
the Croatian government
reached a unanimous
decision to sign a contract
with its Israeli counterpart.
The deal is expected to
be completed when the
Israeli defence minister
arrives in Croatia on a
forthcoming official visit.
Various sources – including
an official press conference
by the Croatian MoD, held
on March 28 – confirmed
that the aircraft in question
are F-16C/D Block 30 Barak
variants, manufactured
in 1987-88. They would
all undergo a pre-delivery
service life extension
programme, after which they
will each have 3,000 flighthours remaining. According
to the Croatian MoD, this
should be enough for 25
years of operations (120hrs
per year per aircraft). No
further modifications would
be made to the airframes.
Apart from a full squadron
of 12 aircraft, two of which
would be two-seat trainers,
the deal will include a flight
simulator, training for six to
eight pilots and 45 ground
crew in Israel, and complete
ground support equipment,
as well as the upgrade or
adaptation of the current air
base infrastructure, and aninitial set of spare parts and
US-built weapons including
air-to-air missiles. Full
logistics support would be
provided in the first three
years, with Israeli personnel
present in Croatia.
The contract will be worth
around US$483m, with the
first two aircraft (including
a two-seater) and the flight
simulator expected to arrive
in Croatia by mid-2020.
These would be followed
by six aircraft (among them
the second two-seater)
in 2021 and four in 2022.
Vladimir TrendafilovskiAbove: Israeli F-16C Block 30 Barak 383 of the 115 Squadron from Ovda air base takes off from its home station on May 16 last year, during Exercise Juniper
Falcon 2017. No 115 Squadron is the IAF aggressor unit and began using the F-16C/D only recently – after the IAF retired the F-16A/B Netz in December 2016. Cpl
Eden Briand/IDF