SHAH ALAM: New contract for Saab 2000 AEWC. Saab on May 18 announced a new contract for Saab 2000 Erieye Airborne Early Warning and Control AEWC. It did not identify the customer for the contract which is worth some US$160 million or around RM697 million. As per Saab press release.
Saab has signed a contract and received an order for the Airborne Early Warning and Control solution Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C. The order value is 1.553 billion SEK. Deliveries will be made between 2020 and 2023.
The industry’s nature is such that due to circumstances concerning the product and customer, further information about the customer will not be announced.
Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C is a complete AEW&C system with multi-role and multi-mission capabilities for both military and civil needs.
It is based on the Saab 2000 aircraft equipped with Saab’s airborne radar Erieye and a range of other sensors. The solution gives the user detailed situational awareness and can be used for tasks including border surveillance and search-and-rescue operations.
Saab will carry out the work in Gothenburg, Järfälla, Linköping, Luleå and Arboga, Sweden.
The previous user of the Saab 2000 AEWC are the Pakistani Air Force and the Royal Saudi Air Force, so it is likely that one of them is also the customer for the new order. It is interesting to note that that Saab had also marketed the Saab 2000 AEWC to Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia previously. Thailand is the sole user of the Saab Erieye system though they chose the Saab 340 airframe instead. Thailand is hoping to upgrade the 340 AEW with new capabilities and control function in the near future.
As RMAF is also interested in AEWC aicraft as well it is interesting to note that cost of the single Saab 2000 AEWC is (USD$160 million) somewhat comparable to the cost of a single Hawkeye based on the price of the four Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, around about USD$164 million each as ordered by Japan. The E-2D it must be noted is a new airframe compared to the Saab 2000 which is only available from used airframes.
Saab Globaleye Erieye AEWC as purchased by UAE costs some USD$500 million per aircraft based on the contract cost announced in 2017. Another order for a third aircraft stated that the contract is worth $236 million though.
RMAF Cap 55 plan call for a squadron of AEWC aircraft well into 2030s, however, so the contract for the Saab 2000 is definitely not ours.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (33)
What i propose is for malaysia to get an erieye system, but instead of housing it in the saab 2000 airframe, we will use the same global 6000 airframe as the globaleye. Basically it would be a globaleye lite.
the saab 2000 can only be had secondhand, which is very hard to find now due to only a total of 63 built. The global 6000, is an upgraded global express business jet that is currently in TUDM fleet.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/RMAF_Global_Express_MRD.jpg
http://newsassets.cirium.com/assets/getasset.aspx?itemid=79438
See the similarity of global express and globaleye based on global 6000.
A used global 6000 costs about usd20 million now, probably around usd15 million in 2025. in my previous write here, i planned for
3x global 6000 erieye
1x global 6000 aselsan HavaSOJ airbone jammer system
2x global 6000 vip to replace existing global express and falcon 900.
all in RMK13 2026-2030.
The costs
usd 600 million for 3x erieyes
usd 150 million for the havasoj
usd 40 million for 2x used vip global 6000s.
so for tudm IMO the priority until 2030 would be
1) additional 6x EC225LP used commercial to complement the EC725
2) MALE UAV, now i am inclined to look at the bayraktar TB2. It is already operationally used, and the cost for ukraine is quite affordable imo. Ukraine bought 12 TB2 with 3 ground control stations for usd69 million.
3) LCA/LIFT. I believe we can get 2 sqn worth of LCA and 1 LIFT sqn. this my preference would be the FA/TA-50
4) AWACS in the shape of global 6000 erieyes.
5) EW jammer in the shape of global 6000 HavaSOJ.
6) additional ground surveillance radars
7) 2 more A400M from excess uk, germany or spain stocks.
http://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/09/06/northrop-grumman-secures-164m-contract-to-modify-hawkeye-aircraft-for-japan/
" ...the total procurement cost for Japan for the four E-2Ds to $633 million, not inclusive of engineering and other related costs. "
For my opinion, Saab erieye system is suitable for military and civil securities purpose but E-2 Hawkeye is pure military mission and battle proven, up to Mindef to decides in term of cost, manpower and expertise.
why the HavaSOJ?
Unlike bullets, bombs or missiles, electronic attack (EA) can be considered a non-lethal way of attacking our adversary, along with cyber attack capability. We can actually use EA in military operations other than war (MOOTW), like in standoffs. Imo EA is a capability we need to have, in all branches of our military.
http://defence-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DkJdPKlX0AEe6qI.jpg
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1s96PvWkAApv4u.jpg
also why to use the global 6000?
common platform means
- larger pool of pilots with similar certification.
- same pool of ground technicians
- same spareparts for common items like tires, brakes, engines etc.
- we can cannibalise the vip aircraft if needed to enable AWAC and EW aircraft operational.
So for Rm 17mil more, we could go for brand new E-2D Hawkeye similarly used currently by USN and with the added advantage of interoperability with US made systems like our Hornets and if we ever get F-35s. And its even carrier-rated. Hmm.... sounds like its a better deal than Erieye.
@ joe
Marhalim had erred on the cost above. That usd164 million is an additional cost to an existing contract, not the total cost of that contract. That contract, in totality is up to usd1.7 billion.
http://www.dsca.mil/major-arms-sales/japan-e-2d-advanced-hawkeye-airborne-early-warning-and-control-aircraft
I don't think we can ever afford the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.
Anyway, the Erieye is already combat proven with Pakistan air force, a fellow service that we can learn from in operating the Erieye.
Reply
I don't think I erred, the DSCS announcement as usual put the whole total package, and the final contract price usually much lower than the announcement. The Defence News story had superseded the DSCA announcement. Of course a user without any experience on a particular aircraft will likely incur higher costs compared to an experienced user like Japan
Just heard from the Janes defence but il bet It would send to pakistan or South America IMO.
BTW, did Northrop Grumman ever offer the Advance Hawkeye to malaysia ?
Reply
Not the latest version as we have not indicated we want them but when we were looking for AEW in the past, yes, had offered the Hawkeyes to us
Joe,
Why on earth would you want the F 35 for RMAF?
Clearly you have not been following all the mishaps that LM are covering up in regards to the F35 debacle.
@ marhalim
Please re-read carefully the defence news article.
" Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $164 million firm-fixed-price MODIFICATION TO AN EXISTING CONTRACT for a new-build E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft "
http://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/09/06/northrop-grumman-secures-164m-contract-to-modify-hawkeye-aircraft-for-japan/
” …the total procurement cost for Japan for the four E-2Ds to $633 million, not inclusive of engineering and other related costs. "
USD 633 million is the contract price up to the date of the article, still not including a lot of other costs, like engineering and other related costs.
Sorry for the comment, just want your article to be more accurate.
Reply
It is accurate, the price for one Japan Hawkeye is USD 164 million, its fixed firm price contract. that's the fly away price of the aircraft. The engineering costs will be paid by US Navy
@...
I would choose to side with Marhalim since he is the news provider so the onus of verity should be onto him and I trust with his journalistic background, he had done his due diligence. Unless he has made mistake and owned up, I stand corrected.
@Melayu Ketinggalan
I am well aware the plane is Windows10 of the skies but it is the best that anyone could buy now and in the foreseeable future, as USA has a real stake in it and they will do all they can to maintain its advantage and the fact is, it has grew too big to fail. Whether we can eventually afford it or not is another matter. What I pointed is just a plausible scenario which makes the advantages of Hawkeye option more obvious.