Aircraft
Saab Adds GlobalEye to Finnish Gripen Offer
Saab has already sold a fighter/AEW package to Thailand, and is applying the same concept to Finland’s HX requirement.
Gripen E 39-10 is seen in typical Finnish winter weather at Tampere-Pirkkala. The aircraft is outfitted with Iris-T and Meteor air-to-air missiles, and the Electronic Attack Jammer Pod. (photo: David Donald)
Gripen E 39-10 is seen in typical Finnish winter weather at Tampere-Pirkkala. The aircraft is outfitted with Iris-T and Meteor air-to-air missiles, and the Electronic Attack Jammer Pod. (photo: David Donald)

Finland’s HX program is ostensibly a multi-role fighter competition, but Saab has taken the step of adding the force-multiplying GlobalEye airborne early warning (AEW) and intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance (ISR) platform to its offer of the Gripen E/F so that it can generate a wider set of capabilities. By leveraging the GlobalEye’s state-of-the-art AEW/ISR suite, the overall combat effectiveness of the Gripen force can be considerably enhanced, and its use in the AEW role can download the burden on the fighter force by negating the need for combat air patrols in certain scenarios.


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