Saab has received a contract to supply 15 Arexis electronic warfare (EW) systems for integration with the German air force’s future fleet of Eurofighter EK aircraft.
Announced on 26 March, the order from Airbus Defence & Space covers activities through 2026, according to the Swedish supplier.
“This order marks the start of the first phase of Saab’s delivery of Arexis within this programme,” it adds.
The German parliament’s budget committee in November 2023 gave a formal go-ahead for the Eurofighter EK activity, which will modify a subset of the Luftwaffe’s fleet for the suppression of enemy air defence role. Its modified aircraft will replace the Panavia Tornado electronic combat reconnaissance aircraft from 2030.
Berlin had in June 2023 confirmed its selection of the Arexis EW suite. Mounted on the jet’s wing-tips, the pod-housed system will detect, locate and identify hostile radar emitters “in complex and congested electromagnetic environments”, Saab says.
“Combining advanced hardware and AI-enabled software, our Arexis sensor suite will strengthen the German defence with future-proof electronic warfare capability for decades to come,” says Saab chief executive Micael Johansson.
