A still from a recent Pakistan Air Force (PAF) promotional video showed what appears to be a planned “structural upgrade” of the service’s Saab 2000 Erieye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. The image was attributed to the National Aerospace Science & Technology Park (NASTP), the PAF’s in-house research-and-development bureau and emerging production entity.
The still was not detailed enough to make out the specifics. That said, one could see signs of changes being planned at several points of the airframe, most notably the front fuselage.
Taken at face value, the image suggests that NASTP is at least studying a mid-life update (MLU) for the PAF’s mainstay AEW&C platform – a program that would have to balance the type’s aging radar against the cost of replacing it outright.
An Aging Platform
The Erieye is the PAF’s primary AEW&C system, and it uses an active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar. It is also an aging one, with the fleet set to begin reaching 20 years of service in the late 2020s and early 2030s.
The radar’s range, while once significant, is no longer sufficient for the PAF’s long-term offensive air operations. At a reported 450 km, the Erieye remains a credible asset for defensive operations – as seen in the opening hours of the May 2025 conflict – but offensive operations are a different matter. There, the system would need enough coverage reach to see into India while flying within Pakistani airspace, i.e., away from India’s longer-ranged surface-to-air missiles (SAM), which will be hunting for AEW&Cs near the border.
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