Swedish airframer Saab and American uncrewed aircraft manufacturer General Atomics are teaming up to develop a new airborne early warning (AEW) solution.
Based on the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) MQ-9B unmanned aircraft, the pair say the platform will offer persistent surveillance capability that can complement traditional AEW vehicles or operate in a standalone manner.
Both companies announced the initiative on 16 June at the 2025 Paris air show.
Under the partnership, General Atomics will integrate a Saab AEW sensor suite onto the MQ-9B platform.
“We are bringing our exceptional ability to detect and track challenging objects to customers looking to use MQ-9B to meet their specific needs,” says Carl-Johan Bergholm, head of Saab’s surveillance unit.
Saab sees the medium-altitude UAV as having strong potential for teaming with the company’s GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform, which is based on the Bombardier Global 6000/6500 business jet.
While the MQ-9B’s smaller size and available onboard power will inherently limit its sensor capability compared to large, conventional AEW&C aircraft like the GlobalEye, the UAV also boasts unique attributes such as a 40h flight endurance and over-the-horizon remote operations.
General Atomics argues these capabilities will allow the new MQ-9B configuration to significantly extend the range of existing AEW fleets, which are limited by fuel and the needs of onboard crew.
“It also gives air forces that need AEW, but lack legacy platforms, a powerful and affordable means to counter threats,” General Atomics says.
Ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Ukraine have regularly seen aerial bombardments featuring clouds of lethally armed one-way uncrewed aerial systems, long-range cruise missiles and deadly drone swarms all mixed together.
Although often simplistic, the numerically dense weapons involved have proven effective against modern air defences designed to combat a smaller number of exquisite threats.
“High- and low-tech air threats both pose major challenges to global air forces,” says GA-ASI president David Alexander.
“We’re developing an affordable AEW solution in cooperation with Saab… that will transform our customers’ operations against both sophisticated cruise missiles and simple but dangerous drone swarms.”
The remotely piloted MQ-9B also costs a fraction of the price associated with large, manned AEW platforms, creating opportunities for a distributed asymmetric approach to airborne threat management.
Notably, the development comes as the US military is due to make a critical decision about the future of its AEW&C fleet.
The Pentagon is exploring options to replace the ageing fleet of Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft operated by the US Air Force (USAF), which are in the process of being retired.
While the air force has previously expressed its intent to field Boeing’s latest E-7 Wedgetail AEW&C platform, the Department of Defense under President Donald Trump recently threw cold water on those plans.
In recent congressional testimony, defence secretary Pete Hegseth suggested the Pentagon now favours a space-based approach to tracking aerial targets.
“We’re willing to continue to review things like the E-7, but from our view, investments in existing systems that carry forward that capability, alongside even bigger investments in space-based ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] gives us the kind of advantages we need on a future battlefield,” Hegseth said.
The USAF has already contracted with Boeing to deliver two E-7 prototypes, but has not yet committed to a full acquisition programme.
