AWACS

 

Global competition heats up for airborne early warning modernisation opportunities

The global race to deliver new options for airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) is heating up, with offerings from Boeing, L3Harris and Saab going head-to-head around the world.

Two major developments in North America over the past month delivered significant boosts to Saab and Boeing.

Mark Carney became the first sitting prime minister to speak at CANSEC, using the opportunity to announce Saab as the preferred supplier of Canada's new airborne early warning aircraftSource: Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries

At last week's CANSEC security conference in Ottawa, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada has selected Swedish airframer Saab as its preferred supplier for a new AEW&C platform. Though a deal is not finalised, the move is likely a definitive blow to the aspirations of L3Harris and Boeing, both of which had responded to the tender.

Saab's offer was compelling: local production of the GlobalEye aircraft, which is itself based on a Canadian-built Bombardier Global 6500 business jet.

"The GlobalEye procurement will help us secure our north and build our economy at once," Carney said from CANSEC.

Saab has also floated local production of the Gripen E/F fighter in Canada, should Ottawa opt to reduce its purchases of US-made Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighters.

Expanding Canada's domestic defence industry and lessening dependence on its mercurial neighbour to the south have emerged as major pillars of the Carney government's policy agenda. One year into his term, Carney delivered a blunt message on his military procurement strategy during an April political rally.

"We will select Canadian suppliers by default," he said. "The days of our military sending 70 cents of every dollar to the United States are over."

The new "Buy Canadian" policy notably did not help L3Harris, which bid for the Royal Canadian Air Force AEW&C opportunity using its Canadian subsidiary MAS, which bid L3Harris' Aeris X platform, also using the Global 6500.

The Aeris X had defeated the GlobalEye last year to become South Korea's new AEW&C aircraft. L3Harris tells FlightGlobal it has also secured a second, undisclosed customer for its system.

The two companies will face off again in the competition to recapitalise NATO's fleet of alliance-owned Boeing E-3 Sentries. It was falsely reported in April that Saab's GlobalEye had been selected for that contract covering six aircraft.

Boeing and its E-7A Wedgetail had looked to be a shoo-in for that deal until the Trump administration began calling the 737NG-based jet unsurvivable and repeatedly called for the US Air Force's acquisition of the type to be cancelled. In response, NATO walked back its commitment to the E-7A and appeared poised to select the European solution from Saab.

But, in a headscratching, if not predictable turn of events, the Pentagon has reversed course and now supports an operational fielding of the Wedgetail beyond the two rapid prototypes currently undergoing modification in the UK.

"I think it has a future. I think it has a place on the battlefield," self-styled secretary of war Pete Hegseth told Congress in May.

Whether that reversal will restore NATO's interest in the American aircraft remains to be seen.

The UK's Royal Air Force is meanwhile set to field three E-7As, the first of which is currently undergoing testing of onboard sensors and mission systems at its Lossiemouth base in Scotland.

Meanwhile, China is forging ahead with its own domestic AEW&C designs, including the Xian Y-20-based KJ-3000, the newer Shaanxi KJ-500 and the carrier-capable Xian KJ-600.

Tune into next week's episode of the FlightGlobal Focus podcast for a deeper discussion on the global push to modernise AEW&C fleets.

At the recent Shangri-la Dialouge in Singapore, our defence managing editor Greg Waldron sat down for an interview with the chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) nearly two years into his tenure.

Steve Parker, a long-time Boeing executive, took the helm at BDS in 2024 when the company was struggling under the weight of numerous money-losing contracts and new development programmes years away from profitability.

These days, Parker says Boeing is experiencing a "generational windfall" in its defence business.

If you missed our coverage of SOF Week in May, it is all available on FlightGlobal.com, including SOCOM's aspirations for a Block III version of Boeing's CH-47F Chinook, plans by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment to fly the Bell MV-75 tiltrotor and why the much-loved Boeing MH-6 Little Bird was conspicuously absent from this year's capability demonstration.

Find all our military aviation coverage on the FlightGlobal.com defence page.