Saab announced on 27 July 2026 that it had received an order worth US$1.04 billion (SEK 10.1 billion) for two GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, with deliveries scheduled for 2030.
The Swedish manufacturer described the buyer only as “a country in the Middle East region,” stating that “no further information regarding this order or the customer will be provided.”
Saab president and chief executive Micael Johansson said the order “underscores our commitment to providing customers with mission-proven, multi-domain AEW&C capability,” framing the deal as evidence of “increasing international interest in GlobalEye.”
The order is separate from Saab’s own selection by NATO earlier in the same month – the alliance chose GlobalEye on 7 July 2026 to replace up to 14 E-3A Sentry aircraft across an 11-nation consortium – and should not be read as part of that multinational program.
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GlobalEye Fuses Air, Maritime, and Land Surveillance on One Platform
GlobalEye is built on the Bombardier Global 6000 business-jet airframe and carries Saab’s Erieye ER active electronically scanned array radar in a dorsal pod, alongside a Seaspray maritime radar and an electro-optical/infrared sensor.
Saab markets it as the only AEW&C aircraft that fuses air, maritime, and land surveillance from a single platform, with reported detection ranges up to roughly 550 kilometres and endurance beyond 11 hours.
The type entered service with the United Arab Emirates, which took delivery of five aircraft between 2020 and 2024 as the program’s publicly named launch customer, and has since been ordered by Sweden and by France, whose Direction Générale de l’Armement was named as the buyer of two aircraft plus two options in a deal worth US$1.27 billion (SEK 12.3 billion).
Saab Has Openly Pitched Saudi Arabia and Qatar on GlobalEye
Unlike those earlier sales, the Middle East order’s anonymity has a direct precedent in Saab’s own history with the region.
Johansson has previously confirmed active sales campaigns in the Gulf, telling regional press “we are campaigning, and we have given them offers,” and specifying that “Qatar and Saudi Arabia have both shown interest” in the aircraft already ordered by the UAE.
The Royal Saudi Air Force operates five ageing Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft alongside two Saab 2000 Erieye aircraft it ordered in 2010 – a deal that, like this one, Saab initially declined to attribute to a named customer before Riyadh’s role became public.
Qatar, by contrast, has no confirmed existing AEW&C fleet, which would make a GlobalEye order there a larger capability leap than a Saudi fleet-replacement purchase would represent.
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Order Lands Outside Saab’s Second-Quarter Results
The Middle East order was booked after the close of Saab’s second quarter, meaning it sits outside the US$7.04 billion (SEK 68,393 million) in order intake the company reported for the April-to-June period on 17 July 2026, when Johansson said Saab had “delivered a strong second quarter with increased order bookings, high organic sales growth and a strengthened operating margin.”
Saab has not disclosed a signature date for the new contract separate from the 27 July announcement, nor has it indicated whether the order includes the ground stations, training, and in-service support packages that typically accompany a GlobalEye sale.
Absent further disclosure from Saab or the buyer, the customer’s identity remains confirmed only by the company’s own description: a single Middle Eastern government, its name withheld at its own request.
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