{"id":13890,"date":"2026-07-20T21:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T21:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/swedens-trio-of-radar-planes-will-complement-natos-10-says-air-force-chief\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T21:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T21:44:26","slug":"swedens-trio-of-radar-planes-will-complement-natos-10-says-air-force-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/swedens-trio-of-radar-planes-will-complement-natos-10-says-air-force-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden\u2019s trio of radar planes will complement NATO\u2019s 10, says air force chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONDON\u2014<\/strong>The trio of Saab GlobalEye radar planes ordered by the Swedish Air Force are separate from\u2014but a vital complement to\u2014NATO\u2019s own order of 10, the service\u2019s top officer said Monday.<\/p>\n

Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman, the head of the Swedish Air Force, told reporters in London that his country\u2019s order of\u00a0 the Swedish-built airborne early warning and control aircraft\u00a0 is \u201con top\u201d of the alliance deal announced at the NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy view is that NATO will have the fleet, like AWACS today,\u201d Wikman said. \u201cWe will have our fleet, a national fleet, in cooperation with other nations, hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he had started a \u201cdialogue\u201d with the alliance to develop operational concepts for the aircraft.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, NATO announced plans to buy 10 GlobalEyes to replace its Boeing E-3 AWACS, snubbing the U.S. company\u2019s pitch of its E-7 Wedgetail. In 2024, Sweden placed an order for its third GlobalEye. The country has donated two of its older fleet of Saab 340 radar planes to Ukraine as it awaits delivery of the new aircraft in 2027 or sooner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are supporting Ukraine with our previous fleet of airborne early warning and control aircraft, and we are now waiting to introduce our next generation of aircraft,\u201d Wikman said. \u201cThe intention of introducing the GlobalEye, or the S106, is not to introduce another early warning and control aircraft for control of the air. It is to introduce airborne early warning and control aircraft for all domains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boeing executives, in a roundtable with reporters in London on Sunday, defended their E-7 Wedgetail after NATO\u2019s announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got a number of platforms, airborne early warning and control platforms, in the Middle East. What capability was asked to come and help? It was the E-7 Wedgetail,\u201d said Steve Parker, Boeing Defense, Space and Security president and CEO. \u201cIt’s that way for a reason, because it is unmatched and it has a technology roadmap that’s going to take it out 30,40 years and stay relevant. It’s the world’s leading capability right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker added that Boeing is \u201csuper proud\u201d to support the NATO mission with the E-3.<\/p>\n

In May, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth\u00a0 reversed course and decided to support funding for the E-7, after it was initially zeroed out in the initial budget request. Last month, House appropriators, mostly, supported the White House\u2019s $1.5-billion budget amendment to fund Wedgetail development.<\/p>\n

Debates over fielding the E-7 intensified after a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry was heavily damaged during the war in Iran. Last year, Hegseth rallied the Wedgetail and defended space-based capabilities for the mission instead. Now, Air Force officials are backing space programs, like the Airborne Moving-Target Indicator, and the next-generation radar plane.<\/p>\n

Wikman said the Swedish\u2019s air and space force hasn\u2019t discussed a similar arrangement. The military\u2019s first space-based ISR asset, a Planet Labs satellite, was launched into orbit in May. He said the hope is to share that data with the new fleet of GlobalEyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, in that sense, we are already there,\u201d Wikman said. \u201cI\u2019m telling Saab \u2018hey, you need to be able to import the space data.\u201d\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n