News

2019-11-14

GlobalEye: A Truly National Asset

Most radars aim to survey just one domain at a time on air, sea or ground. Saab’s GlobalEye can now cast an eye over all of these domains, carrying out multiple domain tasks simultaneously. Saab’s advanced Airborne Early Warning & Control solution is powerful enough to defend an entire nation. GlobalEye defends territory holistically by joining up and multiplying the military forces of a nation, combining the national air force with the navy and army.

GlobalEye also serves as an Airborne Early Warning system to support civil authorities. Saab’s system is thus a vital aid to customs, police, and coastguards too.

Multi-Domain Surveillance

Most missions start with surveillance in one domain and continue into another. One example is when state and military authorities follow smugglers on a ship, but when the criminals launch a helicopter to offload the cargo on to land-based trucks.

The problem posed by such missions is thus the need to sustain an ongoing border surveillance mission. Continuity requires simultaneous surveillance capability in the three domains which presents significant challenges.

Yet GlobalEye doesn’t require the introduction of another dedicated asset to solve the logistical problems arising in the mission. Instead, Airborne Early Warning gives the mission commander flexibility of use. GlobalEye can monitor the ground and air situation on the other side of a border. Later in a mission, GlobalEye might be equally important for protecting sea-lanes and performing long-range air surveillance.

Saab has set out specifically to solve the problem of multi-domain surveillance. The company took a top-of-the-line business jet (Bombardier Global 6000), installed ground and maritime radars on it and then equipped it with EW self-protection, command-and-control and communication systems and the powerful Erieye Extended Range (ER) radar on top of the aircraft. All the sensors had then to be fused to give the crew a comprehensive picture of each of the domains.

Saab’s GlobalEye emerged after thorough discussions with customers about their requirements. The future vision of Airborne Early Warning is grounded firmly on such cooperation.

Seamless Decision-Making Support

GlobalEye is a unique airborne system with a very powerful sensor suite that combines all necessary sensors and systems into one seamless solution. All the data that passes through it is fused into the platform and presented in a command-and-control system distributed by the communication system. This data is then fused in a track data and fusion engine, so that the information is combined into one single track, even if it is coming from several different sensors. To take one example, the radar detects and tracks an aircraft; the identification system determines the identity of the aircraft, while the electronic warfare system identifies the emitter that the aircraft is using.

A key cornerstone in the development of GlobalEye is hence to provide an operator-friendly environment to reduce the burden on the operator. The Airborne Early Warning & Control system automates many functions to provide decision support.

Crowned by the Erieye ER (Extended Range) radar, the full sensor suite of the GlobalEye AEW&C enables operators to detect and identify threats in all three domains through a maritime surveillance radar, electro-optical sensor, ESM/ELINT, AIS and IFF/ADS-B. In this way, GlobalEye functions as a unique sensor suite in combination with a modern, humancentric command-and-control system.

For air commanders, GlobalEye performs the crucial function of enhancing radar detection range to give more airspace coverage and earlier detection or identification of threats. To have more time to decide and act means a better chance of maintaining air supremacy, enabling naval and army commanders to focus on naval and land warfare operations respectively.

At the same time, GlobalEye provides commanders with situational awareness beyond their own sensors. It can also provide positive identification of naval threats by utilising on-board EOS/IOS imaging and strategic ground moving target indication (GMTI) over battle areas.

Saab is unique in the West in possessing in-house competence to assemble aircraft, sensors, electronic warfare, command and controls in-house in a strikingly short time. Thanks to GaN technology, the high-performance sensors of the Erieye ER are designed to detect 5th generation fighters with efficiency.

It is difficult not to be impressed by the multi-role capability of a sensor suite that can detect an aircraft, or 100 of them, from a 550-kilometre distance on a normal day, even when the aircraft is in the air for more than 11 hours. Moreover, GlobalEye can detect any boat or ship out of the horizon some 400 km away, while a small jet ski can be detected 200 kilometres away.

A Truly National Asset

In summary, GlobalEye is a strategic asset that will give any country full protection of its borders in the air, on the sea and on land. Joining up and multiplying a nation's forces while enabling the exchange of information will result in considerably more efficient operations in any peacetime or conflict scenario.

In short, Saab’s multi-domain approach is perfect for modern national solutions.

Photo credit-Anders Bergstrand, Saab

Comments () Views (1664 ) Print

Send To Friend