[Yang Nak-gyu's Defense photo] 'Sabsa's Global Eye' Challenges the Korean Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] President Moon Jae-in unveiled a "weapons bundle" during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump last September. The fact that it was at a Korea-U.S. summit meeting drew even more attention. A government official also mentioned "the next three years," implying U.S.-made weapons planned until 2022, the year for the transfer of wartime operational control.

A representative project is the second phase of the Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration plans to initiate this project by the end of this year. The Air Force, currently operating four Peace Eye early warning control aircraft based on the Boeing 737, is in urgent need of additional AEW&C aircraft.

The companies involved in this project include Saab, along with the U.S. Boeing and Israel's IAI. Saab is promoting its next-generation AEW&C system, GlobalEye. It claims to have the capability to simultaneously monitor thousands of small targets in the air, at sea, and on land. It can fly for over 11 hours while monitoring and tracking thousands of targets across air, land, and sea. It can detect low-flying missiles and jet skis on the water. It is evaluated as suitable for responding to threats in the maritime and airspace around the Korean Peninsula, such as Japan's patrol aircraft low-altitude threat flights and North Korea's illegal maritime transshipment. The first GlobalEye was commissioned this year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE selected GlobalEye after comparing its performance with Boeing's E-737 and Northrop Grumman's E-2D.

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