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| GlobalEye |
Militarymedia.net - Confirming the MoU at the Dubai AirShow 2019 for the additional procurement of GlobalEye aircraft, Saab on January 4 confirmed it had awarded a contract from the United Arab Emirates for the addition of two GlobalEye units with a value of US$1.018 billion. With this addition, the oil-rich country will operate a total of five Saab GlobalEye units.
the contract is an extension of the 2015 agreement, under which the United Arab Emirates has signed a contract for the procurement of three GlobalEye units, consisting of Bombardier Global 6000 business jets equipped with Saab Erieye long-range radar and other surveillance sensors. The contract actually also includes options for two additional purchases, which are now successfully realized.
Saab is targeting two GlobalEye units to be delivered by 2025. To work on the United Arab Emirates' order, globalEye integration will involve Saab facilities in Gothenburg, Linköping, Arboga, Järfälla and Luleå, all of which are in Sweden. But there is also a production phase that will be done in Centurion. South Africa.
With the provision of two additional GlobalEye units, the United Arab Emirates will operate five units of the AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar-based AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control) system. The United Arab Emirates Air Force is in the process of receiving delivery of three GlobalEye units, of which the inaugural unit was delivered by Saab in April 2020. Then the second unit was handed over in September 2020. Saab said the rest of GlobalEye's order for the United Arab Emirates will be made by 2021.
The second and third orders will be delivered first, considering that both aircraft configurations have been tailored to customer needs. While the first aircraft still needs modifications to the standard before it can be delivered. Still about the AEW&C platform, this rich country in the Middle East has indeed become a user of Saab products, namely with two units of Saab 340 ErieEye.
GlobalEye relies on AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar with an external dorsal 'plank antenna with Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology and is capable of sniffing targets within 200 – 400 km. Features offered at GlobalEye also include wide-area ground moving target indication (GMTI) radar modes.
With the GMTI feature, GlobalEye is able to track the speed of small speed boats, jetskis, cruise missiles, steatlh-capable aircraft, and submarine periscopes that appear slightly on the surface alone.
It has a not very large area (83,600 km2), making the posture of the fighting power of the United Arab Emirates fairly solid. Although the air power of the United Arab Emirates looks solid, it looks efficient. This can be seen from the concentration of the two types of fighter jets used, namely from the F-16 Fighting Falcon and Mirage-2000 families.
 Two-Unit Procurement Contract for United Arab Emirates){kind=link}