Poland is set to acquire two Saab 340 Erieye AEW&C aircraft from Sweden, according to a statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak, as well as a briefing slide shown by the Polish Air Force. (Saab)

Poland is in the advanced stages of negotiations with Sweden to acquire airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft for the country's armed forces.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak, made the disclosure on 22 May, saying he expects a contract to be finalised in the near term.

“I wanted to say publicly for the first time that we are very advanced in obtaining early warning aircraft from Sweden. We are already conducting detailed negotiations. I hope they will be successful in a short time,” Błaszczak said during a meeting of Northern Group NATO members. “In this way, we strengthen the resilience of Poland, but also of the entire eastern flank of the [NATO] alliance,” he added.

The UK has signed a contract with Elbit Systems UK for up to 130 ground-based surveillance radars. (Elbit Systems UK)

The UK will receive new ground-based surveillance radars (GBSRs) to bolster its front-line threat-detection capabilities following a contract signed with Elbit Systems UK.

Under the contract, Elbit Systems UK will deliver 90 GBSR systems between 2023 and 2024, with an option for an additional 40 systems, the company announced on 23 May.

The portable GBSR systems are designed to detect, track, and classify targets moving on or close to the ground using digital signal-processing capabilities. The UK will receive customised radars fitted with an optimised stabilisation unit and capture software to allow operator performance to be analysed. Open-architecture software upgrades will also be installed to facilitate integration with existing and future Ministry of Defence (MoD) systems.

The first MESA radar being installed on Boeing 737 NG airframe undergoing modification into the E-7A Wedgetail for the UK Royal Air Force in November 2022. Despite cutting its planned procurement to three aircraft, the MoD has opted to retain its purchase of five radar systems, which it will now use for spares. (Boeing)

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) has defended its decision to continue with the purchase of five radar sets for its Boeing E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning Mk1 (AEW1) programme, despite the procurement having been reduced to three aircraft.

Addressing the House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC) on 17 May, Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Designate Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said that the decision not to similarly trim the acquisition of the five Northrop Grumman Multirole Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar sets has saved the Ministry of Defence (MoD) from having to buy spares. This is on top of savings made with the airframe reduction announced in the Defence Command Paper of 2021, he added.