Saab’s Arexis selected for German Eurofighter electronic warfare variant

[Micael]

I think this is good news for both Germany and Saab. By all accounts a highly capable system.

Saab’s Arexis selected for German Eurofighter electronic warfare variant
Germany’s defence procurement office (BAAINBw) has selected Saab’s Arexis sensor suite as the preferred solution for the German Eurofighter Electronic Warfare (EW) variant. At this point, Saab has not yet signed a contract nor received an order relating to this.

Last year, German officials stated the intention to enable 15 of the German Air Force’s Eurofighters for EW missions. Proceeding with Saab’s Arexis follows the result of a market survey recently conducted by BAAINBw which assessed the products of European and international EW providers, considering aspects such as performance, integration and route to certification.

“We welcome this decision and look forward to proceeding with the next steps. Arexis is the perfect match for Germany’s electronic warfare requirements for the Eurofighter” says Anders Sjöberg, head of Saab Germany.

Saab’s offer states that the company would carry out a major part of the work at its site in Bavaria, Germany, together with its artificial intelligence partner Helsing.

Saab’s modular EW solution Arexis makes use of advanced hardware and software including high-end AI algorithms to remain superior in complex electromagnetic environments.

[Zen9]

Gods alive be careful how you tread with this!

I've heard good things about Sweden's EW capabilities and would hate to see you loose this.

[Micael]

Gods alive be careful how you tread with this!

I've heard good things about Sweden's EW capabilities and would hate to see you loose this.

The variant used by the Swedish airforce has government owned stuff in it that Saab can’t sell to others. Fundamentally it and what Saab markets as Arexis is the same thing, but there are aspects that differ.

[jemhouston]

Does this mean Germany actually wants to get back into the war fighting business instead of blustering about it?

[Pdf27]

Does this mean Germany actually wants to get back into the war fighting business instead of blustering about it?

It's a straight replacement for the Tornado ECR, itself the only dedicated SEAD aircraft I'm aware of in Europe.
The issue the Germans have (at least as I see it - if I'm wrong I'd appreciate the actual Germans on the board correcting me!) is that due to their history they've got a very deep-seated worry about they type of wars they fight.

• During the Cold War that was pretty clear-cut: a totalitarian system was occupying half their country and might grab the other half, and they built a clearly defensive armed forces aimed at stopping a Soviet invasion.
• Over the past 30 years, they haven't really known what to do. The world has been fighting a series of morally ambiguous wars in faraway places with minimal German interest or involvement. Essentially they've carried on by inertia, without really much of a plan or anybody to get a grip on what's happening - with the result that a lot of capability has just rotted.
• With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they've suddenly got a purpose again - a hostile totalitarian power in Europe, invading a democracy. The moral clarity is suddenly back (although it took a long while for the political class to grasp this), with the result that they're getting a grip on the system.

[Jotun]

Does this mean Germany actually wants to get back into the war fighting business instead of blustering about it?

It's a straight replacement for the Tornado ECR, itself the only dedicated SEAD aircraft I'm aware of in Europe.
The issue the Germans have (at least as I see it - if I'm wrong I'd appreciate the actual Germans on the board correcting me!) is that due to their history they've got a very deep-seated worry about they type of wars they fight.

• During the Cold War that was pretty clear-cut: a totalitarian system was occupying half their country and might grab the other half, and they built a clearly defensive armed forces aimed at stopping a Soviet invasion.
• Over the past 30 years, they haven't really known what to do. The world has been fighting a series of morally ambiguous wars in faraway places with minimal German interest or involvement. Essentially they've carried on by inertia, without really much of a plan or anybody to get a grip on what's happening - with the result that a lot of capability has just rotted.
• With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they've suddenly got a purpose again - a hostile totalitarian power in Europe, invading a democracy. The moral clarity is suddenly back (although it took a long while for the political class to grasp this), with the result that they're getting a grip on the system.

That's basically it in a nutshell. No additions to make. Just that fifteen ECR Eurofighters are a bit less than what would be needed, I guess.

Oh, and just as an aside, the Minister of Defence we now have, Boris Pistorius, is a godsend. He is what we call a "Macher" (a Man of Action), doesn't engage in politician-speak but tends to call things as he sees them, and has begun to weed out the deadwood from the procurement office AND the MoD itself. He came up through the Lower Saxon bureaucracy, was mayor of Osnabrück, a delegate in the Lower Saxon parliament, Interior Minister in Lower Saxony and he stated that even with all his experience, he could not decipher the organization chart of his new ministry, so a bit of slimming and streamlining was started. The deadwood isn't happy about this, but expect a lot of premature retirements of a lot of O-5s and up in the future...
He obviously has a soft spot for the troops and has - I have this as word of mouth from an academy classmate - stated more than once that he would actually prefer to visit the guys and gals and hear what they have to say than to sit in another interminable briefing. He served in a Gepard unit as a draftee, maybe that's where he got his empathy for the "working folk" in the Bundeswehr.
Another thing he got rolling is that the procurement office is to focus on bying more provenstuff from the open market (from socks to fighter bombers, basically) instead of wasting man-hours, hundreds of millions of Euros and sanity for "gold-plated" solutions, also known as "egg-laying wool-milk-sows", to be developed and failing at the most basic level.
Unit commanders are also getting more financial leeway to just send their logisticians to the nearest hardware store and buy coveralls and stuff like that COTS instead of having to take the formal request-tender-projecting-development-testing-alterations-testing-failure-testing-alterations-testing-failure-etc. path that finally brings half-arsed coveralls to the unit six or seven years after the request, over budget and only marginally useful.
He also lights one fire ater another under parliament's and the industry's collective butts to pretty please get on with it and give the armed forces what they need.
He is also fluent in English, French and he speks Russian reasonably well.

I would have killed to serve under a man like him.

[Zen9]

Sounds like Mr Pistorius sees his chance to make a name for himself.

All to the good if it brings the German Military to a decent level of capability.

Future Chancellor?

[jemhouston]

A few questions about Boris Pistorius.

1. How did someone with so much common sense get a high level government job?

2. Can the US DOD borrow him for the job of Sec Def?

3. If not, does he have capable relative?

[Craiglxviii]

A few questions about Boris Pistorius.

1. How did someone with so much common sense get a high level government job?

2. Can the US DOD borrow him for the job of Sec Def?

3. If not, does he have capable relative?

We want him first, your lot will squeeze him out like a tube of toothpaste!