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BERLIN—The German defense procurement agency BAAINBw is poised to formally issue a request for proposals to buy a Bombardier Global 8000-based airborne standoff jamming aircraft.
BAAINBw has prepared the documents and is awaiting final sign-off with the release potentially days away, a German official said on the sidelines of the ILA Berlin Air Show.
The program is likely to spur a competition among at least Airbus and Hensoldt to serve as prime contractor for the airborne electronic attack program, though some industry and government officials during ILA called for combined effort. The standoff jammer is part of the so-called luWES program that includes a stand-in jammer and escort jammer element.
Berlin plans to buy an initial batch of six aircraft and later double the number, the German official said.
BAAINBw aims to award a contract before year-end to reflect the urgency of fielding a system.
Germany at one point considered using the Airbus A400M for the mission rather than a business jet. It then decided on a business jet with the Global 6500 and the Global 8000 as the leading options. The government eventually opted for the Global 8000 because of its larger size and higher performance.
Germany’s use of the Global 8000 would be one of the first special-mission applications of Bombardier’s new aircraft.
At the ILA show, Helsing unveiled its concept for an electronic attack version of its CA-1 Europa collaborative combat aircraft that it said would be ready around 2031, when Germany has pledged to provide capacity for such a mission to NATO.
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