NATO looking at Canadian aircraft for its new airborne warning fleet

NATO is reported to be ready to purchase the Swedish-Canadian GlobalEye early warning aircraft. Photo by SAAB

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Canada’s aerospace industry could be in for windfall with news that NATO has selected a new fleet of airborne warning planes based on Canadian aircraft outfitted with Swedish technology.

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The French defence publication La Lettre and the German press agency DPA are reporting NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency selected Sweden’s Saab and Canada’s Bombardier to replace the alliance’s current fleet of U.S.-built airborne warning and control aircraft.

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The selected GlobalEye aircraft is based on the Bombardier Global 6000 or 6500 airframe and comes outfitted with Saab’s extended range radars and other systems.

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A NATO purchase of GlobalEye could help spark further export sales of the plane. The United Arab Emirates is currently flying the aircraft. Sweden and France have also placed orders.

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Saab has also offered to build the GlobalEye and its Gripen fighter jet in Canada if the Liberal government purchases the surveillance plane as well as its fighter jet. Saab is promising such acquisitions would create up to 10,000 jobs.

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NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency has not officially announced a GlobalEye purchase. It did not respond to a request for comment.

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Bombardier referred requests for comment to Saab.

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Saab official Mattias Rådström said the company has seen the news reports about the selection of GlobalEye. “I can confirm that we have provided information to them (NATO) but we have not signed a contract or received an order from NATO for GlobalEye,” he said in an email to the Ottawa Citizen.

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NATO is looking to replace the alliance’s older fleet of E-3A Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft that had been built by U.S. firm Boeing.

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In November 2023, NATO awarded a sole-source contract to Boeing to replace the older planes with the E-7A Wedgetail. But there have been ongoing issues with that plane.

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The Royal Canadian Air Force has also launched a new project to acquire an Airborne Early Warning and Control fleet of planes. The Department of National Defence website for the project lists the cost at more than $5 billion and initial delivery of the first planes in 2037.

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But in an April 8 briefing in Ottawa, the RCAF told industry representatives that the service hopes to have the aircraft arriving between 2031 and 2032. Initial operational capability would be set for 2035, according to the briefing.

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It remains to be seen whether any NATO selection of Saab’s GlobalEye would have an impact on the Liberal government’s decision on a future fighter jet for the RCAF.

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In 2023, the Liberal government announced it was purchasing 88 F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin in the U.S.

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But Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered a review of the F-35 purchase in mid-March 2025 in the wake of threats against Canadian sovereignty by U.S. President Donald Trump.