NATO unveils pooled A400M fleet, confirms Saab GlobalEye as AWACS replacement

Seven NATO allies launched a shared Airbus A400M transport fleet, and the alliance confirmed Sweden’s Saab GlobalEye as the replacement for its aging Boeing E-3A Sentry AWACS aircraft, in a pair of announcements at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7, 2026.

Up to 10 GlobalEye aircraft are planned. Both decisions lean on multinational ownership models that NATO has refined over nearly two decades, and both advance a European push for greater defense industrial autonomy.

A pooled A400M fleet

French Air Force A400M lands on Arctic ice in Greenland (Credit: CEAM Air Warfare Center)

Belgium, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom launched the multinational A400M initiative. Participating nations would jointly fund and operate a shared fleet of the Airbus airlifter, pooling the aircraft and splitting costs while cooperating on joint procurement, logistics, and training.

NATO said the project follows the pooling and sharing model of its Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet, which received its first aircraft in 2020 and operates from Eindhoven Air Base in the Netherlands.

The A400M is already a mainstay of European tactical airlift, operated nationally by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and Airbus has been repositioning the type as a multi-mission platform spanning intelligence, electronic warfare, and aerial refueling alongside airlift.

The pooled group folds in Croatia and Poland, which do not operate the aircraft nationally, illustrating the appeal of pooling for members that want assured access without funding a fleet outright. NATO did not release a final aircraft count or a basing decision, and Airbus did not issue a formal reaction.

An earlier plan to create a multinational A400M unit at Lechfeld Air Base in Germany was abandoned in 2022 for lack of partner interest.

In a parallel step, Finland joined the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet as its ninth member, alongside Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. The members announced the imminent delivery of the fleet’s 10th Airbus A330 MRTT, moving it toward a planned full strength of 12 aircraft.

GlobalEye confirmed for the AWACS role

Saab GlobalEye at Paris Air Show 2025 (Credit: AeroTime)

The GlobalEye pairs Saab’s Erieye Extended Range radar with a Bombardier Global 6000/6500 airframe and is designed to track air, sea, and land targets simultaneously. It replaces the 14 E-3A Sentry aircraft that have flown from NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen in Germany since 1982 and are due to retire around 2035. Geilenkirchen is expected to remain the fleet’s home.

For Saab, a NATO order would be its largest GlobalEye sale to date, adding to a book that includes aircraft for the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, France, which ordered two in December 2025, and six selected by Canada in May 2026.

NATO announces GlobalEye as its future AEW&C capability. GlobalEye – made in the Alliance. For the Alliance.Read more: https://t.co/Ao5bVqxH5v pic.twitter.com/KQoxICbJ4e— Saab (@Saab) July 7, 2026

NATO had selected the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail to serve as NATO’s common airborne surveillance backbone in November 2023, but the plan unraveled after the US Air Force moved to cancel its own E-7 procurement in June 2025 in favor of space-based sensors and additional E-2D Hawkeyes.

On November 13, 2025, the Dutch Ministry of Defense said partner nations had abandoned the six-aircraft Wedgetail acquisition, with Dutch State Secretary for Defence Gijs Tuinman citing the importance of investing in European industry.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said allies would sign contracts worth tens of billions of dollars as the alliance pursues its pledge to spend 5% of GDP on defense. Both air power decisions advance a European drive for industrial autonomy at a moment of strained transatlantic relations, days after Washington pressed allies to buy US equipment. The post NATO unveils pooled A400M fleet, confirms Saab GlobalEye as AWACS replacement appeared first on AeroTime.

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