Integrated defence for a new security era
For NATO, this is not only a question of strategy, but of technology partnership. The Alliance needs industry partners that can deliver interoperable, battle‑proven solutions across domains and that understand NATO standards, NATO doctrine and NATO’s tempo. Saab is embodying this role with perfection: enabling allied nations to counter the drone flood, strengthen ground combat capabilities and achieve multi‑domain operations – with platforms such as GlobalEye providing airborne early warning and cross-domain integration at its very core.
Strengthening ties – shaping Europe’s security together
Hybrid operations, rapidly evolving drone threats and contested electromagnetic and information environments have made time the most critical parameter in NATO’s OODA loop. The Alliance’s operational advantage lies in sensing earlier, deciding faster and acting more coherently than potential adversaries.
Saab’s portfolio is explicitly shaped around this requirement:
Yet technology alone is not enough. To “strengthen ties between stakeholders and shape the future of security and defence in Europe”, NATO, nations, industry and research communities must work in close partnership – from concept development and experimentation to acquisition, training and lifecycle support. Saab’s long‑standing cooperation with allied and partner nations, its focus on interoperability and its experience from complex operational environments position the company as a key contributor to that collective effort.
The threats are evolving, but so are the solutions. By aligning NATO’s strategic needs with industry’s capacity to innovate and integrate, Europe can build a resilient, multi‑domain defence posture in which Saab’s systems help ensure that allied forces remain prepared, protected and ready to gain control.
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Multi-domain superiority through airborne integration
The concept of Multi‑Domain Operations (MDO) requires activities in one domain to create effects in others: actions in the electromagnetic spectrum enabling ground manoeuvre, maritime surveillance informing air operations, or cyber intelligence shaping space‑based ISR tasking. To achieve this, NATO needs platforms that combine data from numerous sources, process it in real time, and distribute an accurate, trusted Common Operating Picture (COP).
Saab’s GlobalEye airborne early warning and control solution is designed as precisely such a node. Operating above 35,000 feet, it combines a suite of active and passive sensors to deliver simultaneous long‑range surveillance of air, sea and land domains from a single aircraft. Detection ranges beyond 600 km allow GlobalEye to identify and track diverse threats – from low-flying and small-signature targets to stealth fighters, electronic warfare emissions and hypersonic missiles – across aircraft, surface vessels and ground domains.
GlobalEye is not only a set of sensors; it is an airborne command centre. Its mission system fuses large volumes of data, assisted by artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics, to provide commanders with a clear, prioritised picture rather than raw information overload. Through secure communication architectures and data links, GlobalEye shares this picture across joint and combined forces, enabling “every sensor to support every shooter”.
Recent decisions by France and Sweden to procure additional GlobalEye aircraft underscore how central such capabilities have become to national and allied defence. In littoral, congested environments like the Baltic Sea – where air, naval and ground activities are tightly interwoven and response times are short – GlobalEye acts as the hub that enables coordinated situational awareness: sharing early warning data with air defence units, providing targeting information to surface forces, and cueing other sensors and platforms across the operational area.
AEW&C for multi-domain superiority
With the ability to operate from airfields requiring only 6,500-foot runways and production capacity of up to three aircraft annually, GlobalEye offers NATO nations a scalable solution for territorial integrity.
Read moreCountering the drone flood – and the cost curve
Ukraine has demonstrated just how rapidly unmanned systems can become decisive. Commercial quadcopters, loitering munitions and military‑grade UAVs now shape the battlefield, from tactically valuable reconnaissance to precision strikes. For NATO, this has turned Counter‑Unmanned Aerial Systems (C‑UAS) into a strategic priority.
Saab addresses this challenge by offering a layered C‑UAS approach built around three pillars: advanced sensors, intelligent command and control, and scalable effectors. Radars such as Giraffe 1X detect and classify targets with radar cross-sections below 0.01 square metres – the signature of small drones – even in cluttered, complex environments. Integrated into modern C2 systems, these sensors support rapid target evaluation and prioritisation, crucial when swarms or mixed threat sets appear.
At the same time, Saab’s concepts explicitly tackle the cost‑per‑kill dilemma. When defenders use high‑end missiles against low‑cost drones, the economic advantage lies with the attacker. Saab’s solutions therefore combine soft‑kill measures, electronic warfare and a range of kinetic effectors to deliver appropriate, affordable responses. Mobile architectures ensure that protection continues during movement, while modular designs make it possible to integrate new sensors and effectors as the threat evolves.
Layered defence against the drone threat
For smaller NATO and partner nations, the same portfolio is designed to be scalable – from protecting individual critical assets to integration into national Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) architectures. Interoperability with NATO standards ensures that GBAD sensors contribute to the Recognized Air Picture (RAP), enabling coordinated threat assessment and true collective defence.
Land forces still decide the outcome
Despite the rapid proliferation of drones and long‑range fires, ground forces remain decisive. It is soldiers who must ultimately seize, hold and defend terrain – from Arctic environments on NATO’s northern flank to dense urban terrain along the alliance’s eastern frontier.
Here, Saab’s ground combat portfolio plays a central role in enabling NATO land forces. Systems such as the Carl‑Gustaf recoilless rifle and man‑portable anti‑tank weapons provide dismounted units with the ability to defeat main battle tanks, fortified positions and targets inside buildings, often from confined spaces. Programmable ammunition and advanced fire control ensure that these weapons remain effective against both legacy and emerging threats.
Saab's GAMER live training system – already deployed by more than 35 nations including numerous NATO members – has enabled large-scale multinational exercises such as Aurora 23 (26,000 participants from 14 nations) and NATO's Nordic Response 2024, providing plug-and-play interoperability that allows allied forces to train together seamlessly with high-fidelity scenarios that replicate actual battlefield conditions.
For NATO’s northern flank – now anchored by Finland and Sweden within the alliance – such capabilities are essential. The newly established multinational land structures in the High North require equipment that functions reliably in sub‑zero temperatures, on frozen ground and in complex terrain. Saab’s decades of experience in Nordic conditions, combined with recent operational feedback, is fed directly into product development and training concepts. Training and simulation systems complement this hardware. Virtual and live training solutions like GAMER enable soldiers to rehearse complex engagements and combined‑arms tactics in a cost‑effective way while maintaining realism. In an era of multi‑domain operations, this allows ground forces to practise not only traditional infantry tasks, but also coordination with air, naval and cyber assets.
Unmanned systems as NATO force multipliers
Unmanned systems will not replace manned platforms, but they will be indispensable force multipliers for NATO. Rotary‑wing unmanned aerial systems provide tactical advantages that fixed‑wing platforms cannot match: vertical take‑off and landing, operation from small decks and austere sites, and the ability to hover over a point of interest.
Within this segment, Saab – through its involvement in the UMS Skeldar VTOL system – supports NATO navies and land forces with solutions designed around alliance interoperability. The Skeldar V-200 carries multiple sensor payloads including electro-optical/infrared sensors, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with Moving Target Indication, and electronic warfare systems.
Integration into existing combat management systems (CMS) and C4ISR networks enables faster, more accurate tasking and increases situational awareness. Heavy-fuel operation (Jet A-1, JP-5, JP-8) aligns the V-200 with standard naval and aviation logistics, simplifying deployment on helicopter-capable vessels with fully automated ship-based take-off and landing.
For NATO, this translates into persistent surveillance, rapid cueing of other assets and an extended protective bubble around ships and coastal infrastructure. Rather than operating as stand-alone platforms, such unmanned systems become connected nodes within broader air, maritime and ground defence architectures – extending commanders' reach and decision-making speed.